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diff --git a/old/10807.txt b/old/10807.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5bc2ee1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10807.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17091 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Constitutional History of England From +1760 to 1860, by Charles Duke Yonge + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860 + +Author: Charles Duke Yonge + +Release Date: January 23, 2004 [EBook #10807] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ENGLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, David King, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + +THE + +CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY + +OF + +ENGLAND + +from 1760 to 1860 + +BY CHARLES DUKE YONGE, M.A. +REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST +AND AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH NAVY" +"THE LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE" ETC. + + +1882 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Mr. Hallam's "Constitutional History" closes, as is well known, with the +death of George II. The Reformation, the great Rebellion, and the +Revolution, all of which are embraced in the period of which it treats, +are events of such surpassing importance, and such all-pervading and +lasting influence, that no subsequent transactions can ever attract +entirely equal attention. Yet the century which has elapsed since the +accession of George III. has also witnessed occurrences not only full of +exciting interest at the moment, but calculated to affect the policy of +the kingdom and the condition of the people, for all future time, in a +degree only second to the Revolution itself. Indeed, the change in some +leading features and principles of the constitution wrought by the +Reform Bill of 1832, exceeds any that were enacted by the Bill of Rights +or the Act of Settlement. The only absolutely new principle introduced +in 1688 was that establishment of Protestant ascendency which was +contained in the clause which disabled any Roman Catholic from wearing +the crown. In other respects, those great statutes were not so much the +introduction of new principles, as a recognition of privileges of the +people which had been long established, but which, in too many +instances, had been disregarded and violated. + +But the Reform Bill conferred political power on classes which had never +before been admitted to be entitled to it; and their enfranchisement +could not fail to give a wholly new and democratic tinge to the +government, which has been visible in its effect on the policy of all +subsequent administrations. + +And, besides this great measure, the passing of which has often been +called a new Revolution, and the other reforms, municipal and +ecclesiastical, which were its immediate and almost inevitable fruits, +the century which followed the accession of George III. was also marked +by the Irish Union, the abolition of slavery, the establishment of the +principle of universal religious toleration; the loss of one great +collection of colonies, the plantation of and grant of constitutions to +others of not inferior magnitude, which had not even come into existence +at its commencement; the growth of our wondrous dominion in India, with +its eventual transfer of all authority in that country to the crown; +with a host of minor transactions and enactments, which must all be +regarded as, more or less, so many changes in or developments of the +constitution, as it was regarded and understood by the statesmen of the +seventeenth century. + +It has seemed, therefore, to the compiler of this volume, that a +narrative of these transactions in their historical sequence, so as to +exhibit the connection which has frequently existed between them; to +show, for instance, how the repeal of Poynings' Act, and the Regency +Bill of 1788, necessitated the Irish Union; how Catholic Emancipation +brought after it Parliamentary Reform, and how that led to municipal and +ecclesiastical reforms, might not be without interest and use at the +present time. And the modern fulness of our parliamentary reports +(itself one not unimportant reform and novelty), since the accession of +George III., has enabled him to give the inducements or the objections +to the different enactments in the very words of the legislators who +proposed them or resisted them, as often as it seemed desirable to do +so. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +Mr. Hallam's View of the Development of the Constitution.--Symptoms of +approaching Constitutional Changes.--State of the Kingdom at the +Accession of George III.--Improvement of the Law affecting the +Commissions of the Judges.--Restoration of Peace.--Lord Bute becomes +Minister.--The Case of Wilkes.--Mr. Luttrell is Seated for Middlesex by +the House of Commons.--Growth of Parliamentary Reporting.--Mr. +Grenville's Act for trying Election Petitions.--Disfranchisement of +Corrupt Voters at New Shoreham. + + +CHAPTER II. + +The Regency Bill.--The Ministry of 1766 lay an Embargo on Corn.--An Act +of Indemnity is Passed.--The _Nullum Tempus_ Act concerning Crown +Property; it is sought to Extend it to Church Property, but the Attempt +fails.--The Royal Marriage Act.--The Lords amend a Bill imposing Export +Duties, etc., on Corn. + + +CHAPTER III. + +Mr. Grenville imposes a Duty on Stamps in the North American +Colonies.--Examination of Dr. Franklin.--Lord Rockingham's Ministry +Repeals the Duty.--Lord Mansfield affirms a Virtual Representation in +the Colonies.--Mr. C. Townsend imposes Import Duties in America.--After +some Years, the Civil War breaks out.--Hanoverian Troops are sent to +Gibraltar.--The Employment of Hanoverian Regiments at Gibraltar and +Minorca.--End of the War.--Colonial Policy of the Present +Reign.--Complaints of the Undue Influence of the Crown.--Motions for +Parliamentary Reform.--Mr. Burke's Bill for Economical Reform.--Mr. +Dunning's Resolution on the Influence of the Crown.--Rights of the Lords +on Money-bills.--The Gordon Riots. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Changes of Administration.--The Coalition Ministry.--The Establishment +of the Prince of Wales.--Fox's India Bill.--The King Defeats it by the +Agency of Lord Temple.--The Ministry is Dismissed, and Succeeded by Mr. +Pitt's Administration.--Opposition to the New Ministry in the House of +Commons.--Merits of the Contest between the Old and the New +Ministry.--Power of Pitt.--Pitt's India Bill.--Bill for the Government +of Canada.--The Marriage of the Prince of Wales to Mrs. +Fitzherbert.--The King becomes Deranged.--Proposal of a +Regency.--Opinions of Various Writers on the Course adopted.--Spread of +Revolutionary Societies and Opinions.--Bills for the Repression of +Sedition and Treason.--The Alien Act.--The Traitorous Correspondence +Act.--Treason and Sedition Bills.--Failure of some Prosecutions under +them. + + +CHAPTER V. + +The Affairs of Ireland.--Condition of the Irish Parliament.--The +Octennial Bill.--The Penal Laws.--Non-residence of the Lord- +lieutenant.--Influence of the American War on Ireland.--Enrolment of the +Volunteers.--Concession of all the Demands of Ireland.--Violence of the +Volunteers.--Their Convention.--Violence of the Opposition in +Parliament: Mr. Brownlow, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Flood.--Pitt's Propositions +Fail.--Fitzgibbon's Conspiracy Bill.--Regency Question.--Recovery of the +King.--Question of a Legislative Union.--Establishment of Maynooth +College.--Lord Edward Fitzgerald.--Arguments for and against the +Union.--It passes the Irish Parliament.--Details of the Measure.-- +General Character of the Union.--Circumstances which Prevented +its Completeness. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A Census is Ordered.--Dissolution of Pitt's Administration.--Impeachment +of Lord Melville.--Introduction of Lord Ellenborough into the +Cabinet.--Abolition of the Slave-trade.--Mr. Windham's Compulsory +Training Bill.--Illness of the King, and Regency.--Recurrence to the +Precedent of 1788-'89.--Death of Mr. Perceval.--Lord Liverpool becomes +Prime-minister.--Question of Appointments in the Household.--Appointment +of a Prime-minister. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +The Toleration Act.--Impropriety of making Catholic Emancipation (or any +other Important Matter) an Open Question.--Joint Responsibility of all +the Ministers.--Detention of Napoleon at St. Helena.--Question whether +the Regent could Give Evidence in a Court of Law in a Civil +Action.--Agitation for Reform.--Public Meetings.--The Manchester +Meeting.--The Seditious Meetings Prevention Bill.--Lord Sidmouth's Six +Acts. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Survey of the Reign of George III.--The Cato Street Conspiracy.--The +Queen's Return to England, and the Proceedings against her.--The King +Visits Ireland and Scotland.--Reform of the Criminal Code.--Freedom of +Trade.--Death of Lord Liverpool.--The Duke of Wellington becomes +Prime-minister.--Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act.--O'Connell is +Elected for Clare.--Peel Resigns his Seat for Oxford.--Catholic +Emancipation.--Question of the Endowment of the Roman Catholic +Clergy.--Constitutional Character of the Emancipation.--The Propriety of +Mr. Peel's Resignation of his Seat for Oxford Questioned. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Demand for Parliamentary Reform.--Death of George IV., and Accession of +William IV.--French Revolution of 1830.--Growing Feeling in Favor of +Reform.--Duke of Wellington's Declaration against Reform.--His +Resignation: Lord Grey becomes Prime-minister.--Introduction of the +Reform Bill.--Its Details.--Riots at Bristol and Nottingham.--Proposed +Creation of Peers.--The King's Message to the Peers.--Character and +Consequences of the Reform Bill.--Appointment of a Regency.-- +Re-arrangement of the Civil List. + + +CHAPTER X. + +Abolition of Slavery.--Abridgment of the Apprenticeship.--The East India +Company's Trade is Thrown Open.--Commencement of Ecclesiastical +Reforms.--The New Poor-law.--State of Ireland.--Agitation against +Tithes.--Coercion Bill.--Beginning of Church Reform.--Sir Robert Peel +becomes Prime-minister.--Variety of Offices held Provisionally by the +Duke of Wellington.--Sir Robert Peel Retires, and Lord Melbourne Resumes +the Government.--Sir Robert Peel Proposes a Measure of Church +Reform.--Municipal Reform.--Measures of Ecclesiastical Reform. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Death of William IV., and Accession of Queen Victoria.--Rise of the +Chartists.--Resignation of Lord Melbourne in 1839, and his Resumption of +Office.--Marriage of the Queen, and Consequent Arrangements.--The +Precedence of the Prince, etc.--Post-office Reform.--War in +Afghanistan.--Discontent in Jamaica.--Insurrection in Canada.--New +Constitution for Canada and other Colonies.--Case of Stockdale and +Hansard. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime-minister.--Commercial +Reforms.--Free-trade.--Religious Toleration.--Maynooth.--The Queen's +University.--Post-office Regulations.--The Opening of Letters.-- +Naturalization of Aliens.--Recall of Lord Ellenborough.--Reversal of the +Vote on the Sugar Duties.--Refusal of the Crown to Sanction a Bill.--The +Question of Increase in the Number of Spiritual Peers.--Repeal of the +Corn-laws.--Revolution in France, and Agitation on the Continent.--Death +of Sir Robert Peel.--Indifference of the Country to Reform.--Repeal of +the Navigation Laws.--Resolutions in Favor of Free-trade.--The Great +Exhibition of 1851. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Dismissal of Lord Palmerston.--Theory of the Relation between the +Sovereign and the Cabinet.--Correspondence of the Sovereign with French +Princes.--Russian War.--Abolition of the Tax on Newspapers.--Life +Peerages.--Resignation of two Bishops.--Indian Mutiny.--Abolition of the +Sovereign Power of the Company.--Visit of the Prince of Wales to +India.--Conspiracy Bill.--Rise of the Volunteers.--National +Fortifications.--The Lords Reject the Measure for the Repeal of the +Paper-duties.--Lord Palmerston's Resolutions.--Character of the Changes +during the last Century. + + +INDEX. + + + + +CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. + +CHAPTER I. + + +Mr. Hallam's View of the Development of the Constitution.--Symptoms of +approaching Constitutional Changes.--State of the Kingdom at the +Accession of George III.--Improvement of the Law affecting the +Commissions of the Judges.--Restoration of Peace.--Lord Bute becomes +Minister.--The Case of Wilkes.--Mr. Luttrell is Seated for Middlesex by +the House of Commons.--Growth of Parliamentary Reporting.--Mr. +Grenville's Act for trying Election Petitions.--Disfranchisement of +Corrupt Voters at New Shoreham. + + +The learned and judicious writer to whom is due the first idea of a +"Constitutional History of England," and of whose admirable work I here +venture to offer a continuation, regards "the spirit of the government" +as having been "almost wholly monarchical till the Revolution of 1688," +and in the four subsequent reigns, with the last of which his volumes +close, as "having turned chiefly to an aristocracy."[1] And it may be +considered as having generally preserved that character through the long +and eventful reign of George III. But, even while he was writing, a +change was already preparing, of which more than one recent occurrence +had given unmistakable warning. A borough had been disfranchised for +inveterate corruption in the first Parliament of George IV.[2] Before +its dissolution, the same House of Commons had sanctioned the principle +of a state endowment of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland, and had +given a third reading to a bill for the abolition of all civil +restrictions affecting members of that religion. It was impossible to +avoid foreseeing that the Parliamentary Reform inaugurated by the +disfranchisement of Grampound would soon be carried farther, or that the +emancipation, as it was termed, of all Christian sects was at least +equally certain not to be long delayed. And it will be denied by no one +that those measures, which had no very obscure or doubtful connection +with each other, have gradually imparted to the constitution a far more +democratic tinge than would have been willingly accepted by even the +most liberal statesman of the preceding century, or than, in the days of +the Tudors or of the Stuarts, would have been thought compatible with +the maintenance of the monarchy. + +When George III. came to the throne, he found the nation engaged in a +war which was occupying its arms not only on the Continent of Europe, +but in India and America also, and was extending her glory and her +substantial power in both hemispheres. _Inter arma silent leges_. And, +while the contest lasted, neither legislators in Parliament nor the +people outside had much attention to spare for matters of domestic +policy. Yet the first year of the new reign was not suffered to pass +without the introduction of one measure limiting the royal prerogative +in a matter of paramount importance to the liberty of the people, the +independence of the judges. The rule of making the commissions of the +judges depend on their good conduct instead of on the pleasure of the +crown had, indeed, been established at the Revolution; but it was still +held that these commissions expired with the life of the sovereign who +had granted them; and, at the accession of Anne, as also at that of +George II., a renewal of their commissions had been withheld from some +members of the judicial bench. But now, even before the dissolution of +the existing Parliament, the new King recommended to it such a change in +the law as should "secure the judges in the enjoyment of their offices +during their good behavior, notwithstanding any demise of the crown;" +giving the proposal, which was understood to have been originally +suggested by himself, additional weight by the very unusual step of +making it the subject of a speech to the two Houses in the middle of the +session. A bill to give effect to it was at once brought in, and, though +the Houses sat only a fortnight longer, was carried before the +dissolution. + +The close of the year 1762, however, saw the restoration of peace; and +the circumstances connected with the treaty which re-established it gave +birth to a degree of political and constitutional excitement such as had +not agitated the kingdom for more than half a century. That treaty had +not been concluded by the minister who had conducted the war. When +George III. came to the throne he found the Duke of Newcastle presiding +at the Treasury, but the seals of one Secretary of State in the hands of +Mr. Pitt, who was universally regarded as the guiding genius of the +ministry. The other Secretary of State was Lord Holdernesse. But, in the +spring of 1761, as soon as the Parliament was dissolved,[3] that +statesman retired from office, and was succeeded by the Earl of Bute, a +Scotch nobleman, who stood high in the favor of the King's mother, the +Princess Dowager of Wales, but who had not till very recently been +supposed to be actuated by political ambition, and who was still less +suspected of any statesman-like ability to qualify him for the office to +which he was thus promoted. It was presently seen, however, that he +aspired to even higher dignity. He at once set himself to oppose Pitt's +warlike policy; and, on the question of declaring war against Spain, he +was so successful in inducing the rest of the cabinet to reject Pitt's +proposals, that that statesman resigned his office in unconcealed +indignation. Having got rid of the real master of the ministry, Bute's +next step was to get rid of its nominal chief, and in the spring of 1762 +he managed to drive the Duke of Newcastle from the Treasury, and was +himself placed by the King at the head of the administration. So rapid +an elevation of a man previously unknown as a politician could hardly +fail to create very widespread dissatisfaction, which was in some degree +augmented by the nationality of the new minister. Lord Bute was a +Scotchman, and Englishmen had not wholly forgiven or forgotten the +Scotch invasion of 1745. Since that time the Scotch had been regarded +with general disfavor; Scotch poverty and Scotch greediness for the good +things of England had furnished constant topics for raillery and +sarcasm; and more than one demagogue and political writer had sought +popularity by pandering to the prevailing taste for attacks on the whole +nation. Foremost among these was Mr. John Wilkes, member for Aylesbury, +a man of broken fortunes and still more damaged character, but of a wit +and hardihood that made his society acceptable to some of high rank and +lax morality, and caused his political alliance to be courted by some +who desired to be regarded as leaders of a party; many of the +transactions of the late reign having, unfortunately, not been favorable +to the maintenance of any high standard of either public or private +virtue. On Lord Bute's accession to office, Wilkes had set up a +periodical paper, whose object and character were sufficiently indicated +by its title, _The North Briton_, and in which the diligence of Lord +Bute in distributing places among his kinsmen and countrymen furnished +the staple of almost every number; while in many the Princess of Wales +herself was not spared, as the cause, for motives not obscurely hinted +at, of his sudden elevation. So pertinacious and virulent were the +attacks thus launched at him, coinciding as they did, at least in one +point, with the prejudices of the multitude, that they were commonly +believed to have had some share in driving Lord Bute from office, which, +in the spring of 1763, he suddenly resigned, hoping, as it might almost +seem, thus to throw on his successor the burden of defending his +measures. The most important of these measures had been the conclusion +of the Treaty of Versailles, which, when it was first announced to +Parliament, had been vehemently attacked in both Houses by Pitt and his +followers, but had been approved by large majorities. Wilkes, however, +not without reason, believed it to be still unpopular with the nation at +large, and, flushed with his supposed victory over Lord Bute, was +watching eagerly for some occasion of re-opening the question, when such +an opportunity was afforded him by the King's speech at the prorogation +of the Parliament, which took place a few days after Lord Bute's +resignation. + +Lord Bute had been succeeded by Mr. George Grenville, who had for a time +been one of his colleagues as Secretary of State; and on him, therefore, +the duty devolved of framing the royal speech the opening sentences of +which referred to "the re-establishment of peace" in terms of warm +self-congratulation, as having been effected "upon conditions honorable +to the crown and beneficial to the people." Wilkes at once caught at +this panegyric, as affording him just such an opportunity as he had been +seeking of renewing his attacks on the government, which he regarded as +changed in nothing but the name of the Prime-minister.[4] And, four days +after the prorogation,[5] he accordingly issued a new number of _The +North Briton_ (No. 45), in which he heaped unmeasured sarcasm and +invective on the peace itself, on the royal speech, and on the minister +who had composed it. As if conscious that Mr. Grenville was less +inclined by temper than Lord Bute to suffer such attacks without +endeavoring to retaliate, he took especial pains to keep within the law +in his strictures, and, accordingly, carefully avoided saying a +disrespectful word of the King himself, whom he described as "a prince +of many great and amiable qualities," "ever renowned for truth, honor, +and unsullied virtue." But he claimed a right to canvass the speech +"with the utmost freedom," since "it had always been considered by the +Legislature and by the public at large as the speech of the minister." +And he kept this distinction carefully in view through the whole number. +The speech he denounced with bitter vehemence, as "an abandoned instance +of ministerial effrontery," as containing "the most unjustifiable public +declarations" and "infamous fallacies." The peace he affirmed to be +"such as had drawn down the contempt of mankind on our wretched +negotiators." And he described the present minister as a mere tool of +"the favorite," by whom "he still meditated to rule the kingdom with a +rod of iron." But in the whole number there was but one sentence which +could be represented as implying the very slightest censure on the King +himself, and even that was qualified by a personal eulogy. "The King of +England," it said, "is not only the first magistrate of the country, but +is invested by the law with the whole executive power. He is, however, +responsible to his people for the due execution of the royal functions +in the choice of ministers, etc., equally with the meanest of his +subjects in his particular duty. The personal character of our present +amiable sovereign makes us easy and happy that so great a power is +lodged in such hands; but the favorite has given too just cause for him +to escape the general odium. The prerogative of the crown is to exert +the constitutional power intrusted to it in such a way, not of blind +favor and partiality, but of wisdom and judgment. This is the spirit of +our constitution. The people, too, have their prerogative; and I hope +the fine words of Dryden will be engraven on our hearts, 'Freedom is the +English subject's prerogative.'" + +These were the last sentences of No. 45. And in the present day it will +hardly be thought that, however severe or even violent some of the +epithets with which certain sentences of the royal speech were assailed +may have been, the language exceeds the bounds of allowable political +criticism. With respect to the King, indeed, however accompanied with +personal compliments to himself those strictures may have been, it may +be admitted that in asserting any responsibility whatever to the people +on the part of the sovereign, even for the choice of his ministers, as +being bound to exercise that choice "with wisdom and judgment," it goes +somewhat beyond the strict theory of the constitution. Undoubtedly that +theory is, that the minister chosen by the King is himself responsible +for every circumstance or act which led to his appointment. This +principle was established in the fullest manner in 1834, when, as will +be seen hereafter, Sir Robert Peel admitted his entire responsibility +for the dismissal of Lord Melbourne by King William IV., though it was +notorious that he was in Italy at the time, and had not been consulted +on the matter. But as yet such questions had not been as accurately +examined as subsequent events caused them to be; and Wilkes's assertion +of royal responsibility to this extent probably coincided with the +general feeling on the subject.[6] At all events, the error contained in +it, and the insinuation that due wisdom and judgment had not been +displayed in the appointment of Mr. G. Grenville to the Treasury, were +not so derogatory to the legitimate authority and dignity of the crown +as to make the writer a fit subject for a criminal prosecution. But Mr. +Grenville was of a bitter temper, never inclined to tolerate any +strictures on his own judgment or capacity, and fully imbued with the +conviction that the first duty of an English minister is to uphold the +supreme authority of the Parliament, and to chastise any one who dares +to call in question the wisdom of any one of its resolutions. But _The +North Briton_ had done this, and more. No. 45 had not only denounced the +treaty which both Houses had approved, but had insinuated in +unmistakable language that their approval had been purchased by gross +corruption (a fact which was, indeed, sufficiently notorious). And, +consequently, Mr. Grenville determined to treat the number which +contained the denunciation as a seditious libel, the publication of +which was a criminal offence; and, by his direction, Lord Halifax, as +Secretary of State, issued what was termed a general warrant--a warrant, +that is, which did not name the person or persons against whom it was +directed, but which commanded the apprehension of "the authors, +printers, and publishers" of the offending paper, leaving the officers +who were charged with its execution to decide who came under that +description, or, in other words, who were guilty of the act charged, +before they had been brought before any tribunal. The warrant was +executed. Wilkes and some printers were apprehended; Wilkes himself, as +if the minister's design had been to make the charge ridiculous by +exaggeration, being consigned to the great state-prison of the Tower, +such a use of which was generally limited to those impeached of +high-treason. And, indeed, the commitment did declare that No. 45 of +_The North Briton_ was "a libel tending to alienate the affections of +the people from his Majesty, and to excite them to traitorous +insurrections against the government." Wilkes instantly sued out a writ +of _habeas corpus_, and was without hesitation released by the Court of +Common Pleas, on the legal ground that, "as a member of the House of +Commons, he was protected from arrest in all cases except treason, +felony, or a breach of the peace;" a decision which, in the next session +of Parliament, the minister endeavored to overbear by inducing both +Houses to concur in a resolution that "privilege of Parliament did not +extend to the case of publishing seditious libels." + +In his life of Lord Camden,[7] who was Chief-justice of the Common Pleas +at the time, Lord Campbell expresses a warm approval of this resolution, +as one "which would now be considered conclusive evidence of the law." +But, with all respect to the memory of a writer who was himself a +Chief-justice, we suspect that in this case he was advancing a position +as an author engaged in the discussion of what had become a party +question, which he would not have laid down from the Bench.[8] The +resolution certainly did not make it law, since it was not confirmed by +any royal assent; and to interpret the law is not within the province of +the House of Commons, nor, except when sitting as a Court of Appeal, of +the House of Lords. We may, however, fully agree with the principle +which Lord Campbell at the same time lays down, that "privilege of +Parliament should not be permitted to interfere with the execution of +the criminal law of the country." And this doctrine has been so fully +acquiesced in since, that members of both Houses have in more than one +instance been imprisoned on conviction for libel. + +The legality of the species of warrant under which Wilkes had been +arrested was, however, a question of far greater importance; and on that +no formal decision was pronounced on this occasion, the Lieutenant of +the Tower, in his return to the writ of _habeas corpus_, and the counsel +employed on both sides, equally avoiding all mention of the character of +the warrant. But it was indirectly determined shortly afterward. The +leaders of the Opposition would fain have had the point settled by what, +in truth, would not have settled it--another resolution of the House of +Commons. But, though it was discussed in several warm debates, Grenville +always contrived to baffle his adversaries, though on one occasion his +majority dwindled to fourteen.[9] What, however, the House of Commons +abstained from affirming was distinctly, though somewhat +extra-judicially, asserted by Lord Camden, as Chief-justice of the +Common Pleas. Wilkes, with some of the printers and others who had been +arrested, had brought actions for false imprisonment, which came to be +tried in his court; and they obtained such heavy damages that the +officials who had been mulcted applied for new trials, on the plea of +their being excessive. But the Chief-justice refused the applications, +and upheld the verdict, on the ground that the juries, in their +assessment of damages, had been "influenced by a righteous indignation +at the conduct of those who sought to exercise arbitrary power over all +the King's subjects, to violate Magna Charta, and to destroy the liberty +of the kingdom, by insisting on the legality of this general warrant." +Such a justification would hardly be admitted now. But, in a subsequent +trial, a still higher authority, the Chief-justice of the King's Bench, +Lord Mansfield, held language so similar, that, once more to quote the +words of Lord Campbell, "without any formal judgment, general warrants +have ever since been considered illegal." + +However, the release of Wilkes on the ground of his parliamentary +privilege gave him but a momentary triumph, or rather respite. The +prosecution was not abated by the decision that he could not be +imprisoned before trial; while one effect of his liberation was to +stimulate the minister to add another count to the indictment preferred +against him, on which he might be expected to find it less easy to +excite the sympathy of any party. Wilkes had not always confined his +literary efforts to political pamphlets. There was a club named the +Franciscans (in compliment to Sir Francis Dashwood, Lord Bute's +Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, as well as Lord Sandwich, the First +Lord of the Admiralty, was one of its members), which met at Medmenham +Abbey, on the banks of the Thames, and there held revels whose license +recalled the worst excesses of the preceding century. To this club +Wilkes also belonged; and, in indulgence of tastes in harmony with such +a brotherhood, he had composed a blasphemous and indecent parody on +Pope's "Essay on Man," which he entitled "An Essay on Woman," and to +which he appended a body of burlesque notes purporting to be the +composition of Pope's latest commentator, the celebrated Dr. Warburton, +Bishop of Gloucester. He had never published it (indeed, it may be +doubted whether, even in that not very delicate age, any publisher could +have been found to run the risk of issuing so scandalous a work), but he +had printed a few copies in his own house, of which he designed to make +presents to such friends as he expected to appreciate it. He had not, +however, so far as it appears, given away a single copy, when, on the +very first day of the next session of Parliament, Lord Sandwich himself +brought the parody under the notice of the House of Lords. If there was +a single member of the House whose delicacy was not likely to be +shocked, and whose morals could not be injured by such a composition, it +was certainly Lord Sandwich himself; but his zeal as a minister to +support his chief kindled in him a sudden enthusiasm for the support of +virtue and decency also; and, having obtained a copy by some +surreptitious means, he now made a formal complaint of it to the House, +contending that the use of the name of the Bishop of Gloucester as +author of the notes constituted a breach of the privileges of the House. +And he was seconded by the bishop himself, whose temper and judgment +were, unhappily, very inferior to his learning and piety. It is recorded +that he actually compared Wilkes to the devil, and then apologized to +Satan for the comparison. But the Lords were in a humor to regard no +violence against Wilkes as excessive; and, submitting to the guidance of +the minister and the prelate, resolved that the "Essay on Woman,"[10] as +also another poem by the same writer, a paraphrase of the "Veni +Creator," was "a most scandalous, obscene, and impious libel," and +presented an address to the King, requesting his Majesty "to give the +most effectual orders for the immediate prosecution of the author." And, +in the course of the next few weeks, the House of Commons outran the +peers themselves in violence and manifest unfairness. They concurred +with the Lords in ordering No. 45 of _The North Briton_ to be burnt by +the common hangman, an order which was not carried out without great +opposition on the part of the London populace, who made it the occasion +of a very formidable riot, in which the sheriffs themselves incurred no +little danger; and, by another resolution, they ordered Wilkes to attend +in his place to answer the charge of having published the two works. But +at the time when they made this order it was well known that he could +not obey it. A few days before he had been challenged by a Mr. Martin, +who till very recently had been one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, +and who was generally believed to have prepared himself for the conflict +by diligent practice with a pistol; and in the duel which ensued Wilkes +had been severely wounded. It was not only notorious that he had been +thus disabled, but he sent a physician and surgeon of admitted eminence +in their profession, and of unquestioned honor, to testify to the fact +at the bar of the House; and subsequently he forwarded written +certificates to the same purport from some French doctors who had +special knowledge of gunshot wounds. But the Commons declined to accept +this evidence as sufficient, and directed two other doctors to examine +him. Wilkes, however, refused to admit them: his refusal was treated as +a sufficient ground for pronouncing him "guilty of a contempt of the +authority of the House," and for deciding on his case in his absence; +and, on the 19th of January, before the case had come on for trial, a +resolution was carried that "Mr. Wilkes was guilty of writing and +publishing _The North Briton_ (No. 45), which this House had voted to be +a false, scandalous, and seditious libel, and that, for the said +offence, he be expelled the House." At a later period of the year, he +was tried on the two charges of publishing No. 45 and the "Essay on +Woman," was found guilty of both, and, as he did not appear to receive +judgment, in November, 1764, he was outlawed. + +So far, it may be said to have been a drawn battle. If, on the one hand, +the minister had procured the expulsion of Wilkes, on the other hand +Wilkes had gained great notoriety and a certain amount of sympathy, and +had, moreover, enriched himself by considerable damages; and again, if +the nation at large was a gainer by the condemnation of general +warrants, even that advantage might be thought to be dearly gained by +the discredit into which the Parliament had fallen through its +intemperance. But the contest between Wilkes and the ministry was only +closed for a time; and when it was revived, a singular freak of fortune +caused the very minister who had led the proceedings against him on this +occasion to appear as his advocate. To avoid the consequences of his +outlawry, he had taken up his abode in Paris, waiting for a change of +ministry, which, as he hoped, might bring into power some to whom he +might look for greater favor. But when, though in the course of the next +two years two fresh administrations were formed, it was seen that +neither Lord Rockingham, the head of the first, nor the Duke of Grafton +and Mr. Pitt (promoted to the Earldom of Chatham), the heads of the +second, had any greater sympathy with him than Mr. Grenville, he became +desperate, and looked out for some opportunity of giving effect to his +discontent. He found it in the dissolution of Parliament, which took +place in the spring of 1768. In spite of his outlawry, he instantly +returned to England, and offered himself as a candidate for London. +There, indeed, he did not succeed, though the populace was uproarious in +his support, and drew his carriage through the streets as if in triumph. +But, before the end of the month, he was returned at the head of the +poll for Middlesex, when the mob celebrated his victory by great riot +and outrages, breaking the windows of Lord Bute, as his old enemy, and +of the Lord Mayor, as the representative of the City of London, which +had rejected him, and insulting, and even in some instances beating, +passers-by who refused to join in their cheers for "Wilkes and Liberty." + +He had already pledged himself to take the necessary steps to procure +the reversal of his outlawry; and, in pursuance of his promise, he +surrendered in the Court of King's Bench. But his removal to prison +caused a renewal of the tumults with greater violence than before. The +mob even rescued him from the officers who had him in custody; and when, +having escaped from his deliverers, he, with a parade of obedience to +the law, again surrendered himself voluntarily at the gate of the King's +Bench Prison, they threatened to attack the jail itself, kindled a fire +under its walls, which was not extinguished without some danger, and day +after day assembled in such tumultuous and menacing crowds, that at last +Lord Weymouth, the Secretary of State, wrote a letter to the Surrey +magistrates, enjoining them to abstain from no measures which might seem +necessary for the preservation of peace, even if that could only be +effected by the employment of the soldiery. The riots grew more and more +formidable, till at last the magistrates had no resource but to call out +the troops, who, on one occasion, after they had been pelted with large +stones, and in many instances severely injured, fired, killing or +wounding several of the foremost rioters. So tragical an event seemed to +Wilkes to furnish him with exactly such an opportunity as he desired to +push himself into farther notoriety. He at once printed Lord Weymouth's +letter, and circulated it, with an inflammatory comment, in which he +described it as a composition having for its fruit "a horrid massacre, +the consummation of a hellish plot deliberately planned." Too angry to +be prudent, Lord Weymouth complained to the House of Lords of this +publication as a breach of privilege, and the Lords formally represented +it to the House of Commons as an insult deliberately offered to them by +one of its members. There could be no doubt that such language as Wilkes +had used was libellous. In its imputation of designs of deliberate +wickedness, it very far exceeded the bitterest passages of _The North +Briton_; and Lord Weymouth's colleagues, therefore, thought they might +safely follow the precedent set in 1764, of branding the publication as +a libel, and again procuring the expulsion of the libeller from the +House of Commons. There were circumstances in the present case, such as +the difference between the constituencies of Aylesbury and Middlesex, +and the enthusiastic fervor in the offender's cause which the populace +of the City had displayed, which made it very doubtful whether the +precedent of 1764 were quite a safe one to follow; but the ministers not +only disregarded every such consideration, but, as if they had wantonly +designed to give their measure a bad appearance, and to furnish its +opponents with the strongest additional argument against it, they mixed +up with their present complaint a reference to former misdeeds of Wilkes +with which it had no connection. On receiving the message of the Lords, +they had summoned him to appear at the bar of the House of Commons, that +he might be examined on the subject; but this proceeding was so far from +intimidating him, that he not only avowed the publication of his comment +on Lord Weymouth's letter, but gloried in it, asserting that he deserved +the thanks of the people for bringing to light the true character of +"that bloody scroll." Such language was regarded as an aggravation of +his offence, and the Attorney-general moved that his comment on the +letter "was an insolent, scandalous, and seditious libel;" and, when +that motion had been carried, Lord Barrington followed it up with +another, to the effect that "John Wilkes, Esq., a member of this House, +who hath at the bar of this House confessed himself to be the author and +publisher of what the House has resolved to be an insolent, scandalous, +and seditious libel, and who has been convicted in the Court of King's +Bench of having printed and published a seditious libel, and three[11] +obscene and impious libels, and by the judgment of the said Court has +been sentenced to undergo twenty-two months' imprisonment, and is now in +execution under the said judgment, be expelled this House." This motion +encountered a vigorous opposition, not only from Mr. Burke and the +principal members of the Rockingham party, which now formed the regular +Opposition, but also from Mr. Grenville, the former Prime-minister, who +on the former occasion, in 1764, had himself moved the expulsion of the +same offender. His speech on this occasion is the only one which is +fully reported; and it deserved the distinction from the exhaustive way +in which it dealt with every part of the question. It displayed no +inclination to extenuate Wilkes's present offence, but it pointed out +with great force the circumstance that the supporters of the motion were +far from agreement as to the reasons by which they were guided; that +some members of the greatest authority in the House, while they had +avowed their intention of voting for the expulsion, had at the same time +been careful to explain that the comment on Lord Weymouth's letter was +not the ground of their vote; that so great a lawyer as Mr. Blackstone +had asserted that that comment "had not been properly and regularly +brought before the House," but had founded his intention to vote for the +expulsion solely "upon that article of the charge which related to the +three obscene and impious libels mentioned in it, disavowing in the most +direct terms all the other articles." That, on the other hand, other +members of deserved weight and influence, such as Lord Palmerston and +Lord F. Campbell, had disdained the idea of regarding "the article of +the three obscene and impious libels as affording any ground for their +proceeding." So practised a debater as Mr. Grenville had but little +difficulty, therefore, in arguing against the advocates of expulsion, +when they were so divided that one portion of them did, in fact, reply +to the other. But it would be superfluous here to enter into the +arguments employed on either side to justify the expulsion, or to prove +it to be unjustifiable, from a consideration of the character of either +Wilkes or his publication. The strength and importance of Mr. +Grenville's speech lay in the constitutional points which it raised. + +Some supporters of the ministers had dwelt upon the former expulsion, +insisting that "a man who had been expelled by a former House of Commons +could not possibly be deemed a proper person to sit in the present +Parliament, unless he had some pardon to plead, or some merit to cancel +his former offences." By a reference to the case of Sir R. Walpole, Mr. +Grenville proved that this had not been the opinion of former +Parliaments; and he contended, with unanswerable logic, that it would be +very mischievous to the nation if such a principle should be now acted +on, and such a precedent established, since, though employed in the +first instance against the odious and the guilty, it might, when once +established, be easily applied to, and made use of against, the +meritorious and the innocent; and so the most eminent and deserving +members of the state, under the color of such an example, by one +arbitrary and discretionary vote of one House of Parliament, the worst +species of ostracism, might be excluded from the public councils, cut +off and proscribed from the rights of every subject of the realm, not +for a term of years alone, but forever. He quoted from "L'Esprit des +Lois" an assertion of Montesquieu, that "one of the excellences of the +English constitution was, that the judicial power was separated from the +legislative, and that there would be no liberty if they were blended +together; the power over the life and liberty of the citizens would then +be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislator." And, having thus +proved that it would be a violation of the recognized constitution to +found a second expulsion on the first, he proceeded to argue that to +expel him for this new offence would be impolitic and inexpedient, as a +step which would inevitably lead to a contest with the constituency +which he represented, since, "in the present disposition of the county +of Middlesex, no one could entertain a doubt that Wilkes would be +re-elected. The House would then probably think itself under a necessity +of again expelling him, and he would as certainly be again re-elected. +The House might, indeed, refuse to issue a new writ, which would be to +deprive the freeholders of Middlesex of the right of choosing any other +representative; but he could not believe that the House would think it +fit to inflict such a punishment on the electors of a great county. +Should it not do so, the other alternative would be to bring into the +House as representative and knight of the shire for Middlesex a man +chosen by a few voters only, in contradiction to the declared sense of a +great majority of the freeholders on the face of the poll, upon the +supposition that all the votes of the latter were forfeited and thrown +away on account of the expulsion of Mr. Wilkes." It seemed premature to +discuss that point before it arose, and therefore the Speaker contented +himself for the present with saying that "he believed there was no +example of such a proceeding; and that, if it should appear to be new +and unfounded as the law of the land, or even if any reasonable doubt +could be entertained of its legality, the attempt to forfeit the +freeholders' votes in such a manner would be highly alarming and +dangerous." + +Few prophecies have been more exactly fulfilled. The House did expel Mr. +Wilkes; he did offer himself for re-election, and was re-elected; and +the minister, in consequence, moved and carried a resolution that "John +Wilkes, Esq., having been, in this session of Parliament, expelled this +House, was and is incapable of being elected a member to serve in this +present Parliament." And, in pursuance of this vote, a writ was again +issued. At the end of another month the proceeding required to be +repeated. Wilkes had again offered himself for re-election. No other +candidate had presented himself, and, in answer to an inquiry, the +under-sheriff reported that "no other candidate had been proposed but +John Wilkes, Esq., and that no elector had given or tendered his vote +for any other person." Once more the House resolved that he was +"incapable of being elected," and issued a new writ. But on this second +occasion the ministry had provided a rival candidate in the person of +the Honorable H.K. Luttrell. He was duly proposed and seconded; a poll +was taken and kept open for several days, and, as it appeared at the +close that 1143 votes had been given for Wilkes and 296 for Mr. +Luttrell, the sheriff again returned Wilkes as duly elected. + +A debate of singularly angry excitement arose on the reception of this +return. Even lawyers, such as Mr. De Grey, the Attorney-general, and Sir +Fletcher Norton, who had been Attorney-general, were not ashamed to +denounce the conduct of the sheriff in returning Mr. Wilkes as "highly +improper and indecent," as "a flying in the face of a resolution of the +House of Commons;" and Sir Fletcher even ventured to advance the +proposition that, "as the Commons were acting in a judicial capacity, +their resolutions were equal to law." Lord North, too, the Chancellor of +the Exchequer, as we learn from the "Parliamentary History," "spoke +long, but chiefly to the passions. He described Mr. Wilkes and his +actions in a lively manner; showed the variety of troubles which he had +given the ministry; and that unless, by voting in Mr. Luttrell, an end +were put to this debate, the whole kingdom would be in confusion; though +he owned that he did not think that measure would put an end to the +distractions. He spoke much more to the expediency than to the legality +of the measure proposed." + +On the other side, it was contended by several members, Burke and Mr. +Grenville being of the number, that "the House of Commons alone could +not make a law binding any body but themselves. That, if they could +disqualify one person, they could disqualify as many as they pleased, +and thus get into their own hands the whole power of the government;" +and precedents were produced to prove that votes of the House of Lords, +and also of the House of Commons, regarding their own members, had been +disregarded by the judges of the Court of King's Bench as being contrary +to law. But the minister was secure of the steadiness of his adherents, +and a majority of 221 to 152 declared that Mr. Luttrell had been duly +elected. + +But Lord North was correct in his anticipation that their vote would not +put an end to the agitation on the question, and it was renewed in the +next session in a manner which at one time threatened to produce a +breach between the two Houses. + +The "Parliamentary History" closes its report of the debate on the +resolution by which Mr. Luttrell was seated with a summary of the +arguments used in it, taken from the "Annual Register," which, as is +universally known, was at this time edited by Mr. Burke. It is a very +fair and candid abstract, which, in fact, puts the whole question on one +single issue, "that the House of Commons is the sole court of judicature +in all cases of election, and that this authority is derived from the +first principles of our government, viz., the necessary independence of +the three branches of the Legislature." But, though that doctrine was +fully admitted by the Opposition, they made "that very admission a +ground for reviving the question in the next session, by moving for a +resolution which should declare that, 'being a Court of Judicature, the +House of Commons, in deciding matters of election, was bound to judge +according to the law of the land, and the known and established law of +Parliament, which was part thereof.'" It was understood that this +resolution, if carried, was intended as a stepping-stone to others which +should condemn the decision of the previous session; yet it seemed such +a truism that even the ministers could not venture to deny it; but they +proposed to defeat the object of its framers by adding to it a +declaration that the late decision was "agreeable to the said law of the +land." And we might pass on to the subsequent debate, in which the +constitutional correctness of that addition was distinctly challenged, +did it not seem desirable to notice two arguments which were brought +forward against the motion, one by an independent member, Mr. Ongley, +the other by the Attorney-general. Mr. Ongley contended that "a power of +preserving order and decency is essentially necessary to every aggregate +body; and, with respect to this House, if it had not power over its +particular members, they would be subject to no control at all." The +answer to this argument is obvious: that a right on the part of the +House to control the conduct of its members is a wholly different thing +from a right to determine who are or ought to be members; and that for +the House to claim this latter right, except on grounds of qualification +or disqualification legally proved, would be to repeat one of the most +monstrous of all Cromwell's acts of tyranny, when, in 1656, he placed +guards at the door of the House, with orders to refuse admission to all +those members whom, however lawfully elected, he did not expect to find +sufficiently compliant for his purposes. Mr. De Grey's argument was of a +different character, being based on what he foretold would be the +practical result of a decision that expulsion did not involve an +incapacity to be re-elected. If it did not involve such incapacity, and +if, in consequence, Mr. Wilkes should be re-elected, he considered that +the House would naturally feel it its duty to re-expel him as often as +the constituency re-elected him. But one answer given to this argument +was, that to expel a second time would be to punish twice for one +offence, a proceeding at variance not only with English law but with +every idea of justice. Another, and one which has obtained greater +acceptance, was, that the legitimate doctrine was, that the issue of a +new writ gave the expelled member an appeal from the House to the +constituency, and that the constituency had a constitutional right to +overrule the judgment of the House, and to determine whether it still +regarded the candidate as its most suitable representative. + +The ministers, however, were, as before, strong enough in the House to +carry their resolution. But the Opposition returned to the charge, +taking up an entirely different though equally general position, "That, +by the law of the land and the known law and usage of Parliament, no +person eligible by common right can be incapacitated by vote or +resolution of this House, but by act of Parliament only." It is +remarkable that, in the debate which ensued, two members who +successively rose to the dignity of Lord Chancellor, Mr. Thurlow and Mr. +Wedderburn, took different sides; but nothing could shake the +ministerial majority. The resolution was rejected. And when Lord +Rockingham proposed the same resolution in the House of Lords, though it +was supported by all the eloquence of Lord Chatham, he was beaten by a +majority of more than two to one, and the ministers even carried a +resolution declaring "that any interference of the House of Lords with +any judgment of the House of Commons, in matters of election, would be a +violation of the constitutional rights of the Commons." + +Even these decisive defeats of the Opposition did not finally terminate +the struggle. The notoriety which Wilkes had gained had answered his +purpose to no slight extent. The City had adopted his cause with +continually increasing earnestness and effect. It had made him Sheriff, +Alderman, Lord Mayor, and had enriched him with the lucrative office of +City Chamberlain; and, as one of the City magistrates, he subsequently +won the good opinion of many who had previously condemned him, by his +conduct during the Gordon Riots, in which he exerted his authority with +great intrepidity to check and punish the violence of the rioters. And +when, in 1782, Lord Rockingham became, for the second time, +Prime-minister, he thought he might well avail himself of the favor he +had thus acquired, and of the accession to office of those whom the line +which they had formerly taken bound to countenance him, to bring forward +a motion for the expunction of the resolutions against him which had +been passed in 1770. It was carried by a largo majority; and though this +was as evidently a party division as those had been by which he had been +defeated twelve years before, still, as the last resolution on the +subject, it must be regarded as decisive of the law and practice of +Parliament, and as having settled the doctrine that expulsion does not +incapacitate a member who has been expelled from immediate +re-election.[12] + +The establishment of this rule, and the abolition of general warrants, +were, however, not the only nor the most important result of these +proceedings. They led indirectly to an innovation which, it is hardly +too much to say, has had a greater influence on the character and +conduct of Parliament, and indeed on the whole subsequent legislation of +the country, than can be attributed to any other single cause. Hitherto +the bulk of the people had enjoyed but very scanty and occasional means +of acquiring political education. At times of vehement political +excitement, or any special party conflict, pamphlets and periodical +essays had enlightened their readers--necessarily a select and small +body--on particular topics. But standing orders of both Houses, often +renewed, strictly forbade all publication of the debates which took +place in either. To a certain extent, these orders had come to be +disregarded and evaded. Almost ever since the accession of the House of +Brunswick, a London publisher had given to the world an annual account +of the Parliamentary proceedings and most interesting discussions of the +year; and before the middle of the reign of George II, two monthly +magazines had given sketches of speeches made by leading members of each +party. The reporters, however, did not venture to give the names of the +speakers at full length, but either disguised them under some general +description, or at most gave their initials; and sometimes found that +even this profession of deference to the standing orders did not insure +them impunity. As late as the year 1747, Cave, the proprietor and editor +of the _Gentleman's Magazine_, was brought to the bar of the House of +Commons for publishing an account of a recent debate, and only obtained +his release by expressions of humble submission and the payment of heavy +fees. The awe, however, which his humiliation and peril had been +intended to diffuse gradually wore off; the keen interest which was +awakened by the ministerial changes at the beginning of the reign of +George III., which have been already mentioned, naturally prompted a +variety of efforts to gratify it by a revelation of the language +concerning them which was held by statesmen of different parties; and +these revelations were no longer confined to yearly or monthly +publications. More than one newspaper had of late adopted the practice +of publishing what it affirmed to be a correct report of the debates of +the previous day, though, in fact, each journal garbled them to suit the +views of the party to which it belonged, and, to quote the words of the +historian of the period, "misrepresented the language and arguments of +the speakers in a manner which could hardly be considered +accidental."[13] The speakers on the ministerial side in the debates on +the Middlesex election had been especial objects of these +misrepresentations; and, at the beginning of 1771, one of that party, +Colonel Onslow, M.P. for Guilford, brought the subject before the House, +complaining that many speeches, and his own among them, had been +misrepresented by two newspapers which he named, and that "the practice +had got to an infamous height, so that it had become absolutely +necessary either to punish the offenders or to revise the standing +orders."[14] And he accordingly moved "that the publication of the +newspapers of which he complained was a contempt of the orders and a +breach of the privileges of the House, and that the printers be ordered +to attend the House at its next sitting." The habitual unfairness of the +reports was admitted by the Opposition; but the publishers complained of +evidently felt assured of their sympathy (which, indeed, was +sufficiently, and not very decorously, shown by its leaders inflicting +on the House no fewer than twenty-three divisions in a single night), +and, relying on their countenance, they paid no attention to the order +of the House. A fresh order for their arrest having been issued, the +Sergeant-at-arms reported that he had been unable to execute it, by +reason of their absence from their homes; on which the House, not +disposed to allow itself to be thus trifled with, now addressed his +Majesty with a request that he would issue his royal proclamation for +their apprehension. And Colonel Onslow made a fresh motion, with a +similar complaint of the publishers of six more newspapers--"three +brace," as he described them in language more sportsman like than +parliamentary. Similar orders for their appearance and, when these were +disregarded, for their apprehension, were issued. And at last one of +those who had been mentioned in the royal proclamation, Mr. Wheble, +printer of the _Middlesex Journal_, was apprehended by an officer named +Carpenter, and carried before the sitting magistrate at Guildhall, who, +by a somewhat whimsical coincidence, happened to be Alderman Wilkes. +Wilkes not only discharged him, on the ground that there was "no legal +cause of complaint against him," but when Wheble, in retaliation, made a +formal complaint of the assault committed on him by Carpenter in +arresting him, bound Wheble over to prosecute, and Carpenter to answer +the complaint, at the next quarter sessions, and then reported what he +had done in an official Letter to the Secretary of State. Thomson, +another printer, was in like manner arrested; and, when brought before +Mr. Oliver, another alderman, was discharged by him. And when, a day or +two afterward, a third (Mr. Miller) was apprehended by Whetham, a +messenger of the House of Commons, Mr. Brass Crosby, the Lord Mayor, and +the two Aldermen, signed a warrant committing Whetham to prison for +assaulting Miller. Whetham was bailed by the Sergeant-at-arms, who +reported what had occurred to the House; and the House, as the Lord +Mayor and Alderman Oliver were members of it, as representatives for +London and Honiton, ordered that they should attend the House in their +places, to explain their conduct, and that Mr. Wilkes should attend at +the bar of the House. Wilkes, declining to recognize the validity of the +resolutions which had seated Colonel Luttrell for Middlesex, refused +compliance with such an order, writing a letter to the Speaker, in which +he "observed that no notice was taken of him as a member of the House; +and that the Speaker's order did not require him to attend in his +place." And he "demanded his seat in Parliament, and promised, when he +had been admitted to his seat, to give the House a most exact detail of +his conduct." But the Lord Mayor pleaded the charters of the City as a +justification of his act in releasing a citizen of London who had been +arrested on a warrant which had not been backed by a City magistrate, +and demanded to be heard by counsel in support of his plea. His demand, +however, was refused, and he and Alderman Oliver were committed to the +Tower; but, as if the ministers were afraid of re-opening the question +of Colonel Luttrell's election for Middlesex, they evaded taking notice +of Wilkes's disobedience to their order by a singularly undignified +expedient, issuing a fresh order for his appearance on the 8th of April, +and adjourning till the 9th. + +The ministers now moved the appointment of a select committee to +investigate the whole affair; and the committee, before the end of the +month, made an elaborate report, which, however, abstained from all +mention of the offence committed by the printers, and confined itself to +an assertion that "the power and authority of the House to compel the +attendance of any commoner had ever extended as well to the City of +London, without exception on account of charters from the crown or any +pretence of separate jurisdiction, as to every other part of the realm." +And this assertion may be regarded as having been uphold by the refusal +of the judges to release the Lord Mayor and Alderman when they sued out +writs of _habeas corpus_; and they consequently remained prisoners in +the Tower till they were released by the prorogation. + +But with this report of the committee the matter was suffered to drop. +The transaction had caused almost unprecedented excitement, which was +not confined to the City, for the grand-juries of many English counties +and a committee of the Dublin merchants showed their sympathy with the +Opposition by sending up addresses to the imprisoned City magistrates; +and the ministers had a prudent fear of keeping alive an agitation which +had not been always free from danger to the public tranquillity.[15] In +effect, the victory remained with the Opposition. No farther attempt was +made to punish any of the printers; and, though the standing orders +which forbid such publication have never been formally repealed, ever +since that time the publishers of newspapers and other periodicals have +been in the constant habit of giving regular details of the proceedings +of both Houses of Parliament. And one enterprising publisher, Mr. +Hansard, has for many years published a complete record of the debates +in both Houses, which is continually appealed to in the Houses +themselves, by members of both parties, as a manual of political and +parliamentary history. + +The practice, as it now prevails, is one of the many instances of the +practical wisdom with which this nation often deals with difficult +subjects. The standing order is retained as an instrument which, in +certain cases, it may possibly be expedient to employ; as, in fact, it +has been employed in one or two instances in the present reign, when +matters have been under consideration which, however necessary to be +discussed, were of such a nature that the publication of the details +into which some speakers deemed it desirable to go was regarded by +others as calculated to be offensive to the taste, if not injurious to +the morals, of the community at large. But the very fact of such an +occasional enforcement of the standing orders under very peculiar +circumstances implies a recognition of the propriety of its more +ordinary violation; of the principle that publication ought to be the +general rule, and secrecy the unusual exception. And, indeed, it is, +probably, no exaggeration to say that such publication is not only +valuable, as the best and chief means of the political education of the +people out-of-doors, but is indispensable to the working of our +parliamentary system such as it has now become. The successive Reform +Bills, which have placed the electoral power in the hands of so vast a +body of constituents as was never imagined in the last century, have +evidently regarded the possession by the electors of a perfect knowledge +of the language held and the votes given by their representatives as +indispensable to the proper exercise of the franchises which they have +conferred. And, even if there had previously been no means provided for +their acquisition of such information, it is certain that the electors +would never have consented to be long kept in the dark on subjects of +such interest. In another point of view, the publication of the debates +is equally desirable, in the interest of the members themselves, whether +leaders or followers of the different parties. Not to mention the +stimulus that it affords to the cultivation of eloquence--an incentive +to which even those least inclined or accustomed to put themselves +forward are not entirely insensible--it enables the ministers to +vindicate their measures to the nation at large, the leaders of the +Opposition to explain their objections or resistance to those measures +in their own persons, and not through the hired agency of pamphleteers, +and each humbler member to prove to his constituents the fidelity with +which he has acted up to the principles his assertion of which induced +them to confide their interests and those of the kingdom to his judgment +and integrity. Secrecy and mystery may serve, or be supposed to serve, +the interests of arbitrary rulers; perfect openness is the only +principle on which a free constitution can be maintained and a free +people governed. + +It seems convenient to take all the measures which, in this first +portion of the reign before us, affected the proceedings or constitution +of Parliament together; and, indeed, one enactment of great importance, +which was passed in 1770, it is hardly unreasonable to connect in some +degree with the decision of the House which adjudged the seat for +Middlesex to Colonel Luttrell. Ever since the year 1704 it had been +regarded as a settled point that the House of Commons had the exclusive +right of determining every question concerning the election of its +members. But it was equally notorious that it had exercised that right +in a manner which violated every principle of justice and even of +decency. Election petitions were decided by the entire House, and were +almost invariably treated as party questions, in which impartiality was +not even professed. Thirty years before, the Prime-minister himself (Sir +Robert Walpole) had given notice to his supporters that "no quarter was +to be given in election petitions;" and it was a division on one +petition which eventually drove him from office. There was not even a +pretence made of deciding according to evidence, for few of the members +took the trouble to hear it. A few years after the time of which we are +speaking, Lord George Germaine thus described the mode of proceeding +which had previously prevailed: "The managers of petitions did not ask +those on whose support they calculated to attend at the examination of +witnesses, but only to let them know where they might be found when the +question was going to be put, that they might be able to send them word +in time for the division." The practice had become a public scandal, by +which the constituencies and the House itself suffered equally--the +constituencies, inasmuch as they were liable to be represented by one +who was in fact only the representative of a minority; the House itself, +since its title to public confidence could have no solid or just +foundation but such as was derived from its members being in every +instance the choice of the majority. Yet, so long as petitions were +judged by the whole House, there seemed no chance of the abuse being +removed, the number of judges conferring the immunity of shamelessness +on each individual. To remedy such a state of things, in the spring of +1770 Mr. G. Grenville brought in a bill which provided for the future +trial of all such petitions by a select committee of fifteen members, +thirteen of whom should be chosen by ballot, one by the sitting member +whose seat was petitioned against, and one by the petitioner. The +members of the committee were to take an oath to do justice similar to +that taken by jurymen in the courts of law; and the committee was to +have power to compel the attendance of witnesses, to examine them on +oath, and to enforce the production of all necessary papers; it was also +to commence its sittings within twenty-four hours of its appointment, +and to sit from day to day till it should be prepared to present its +report. It was not to the credit of the ministers that they made the +passing of such a bill a party question. The abuse which it was designed +to remedy was notorious, and Mr. Grenville did not exaggerate its +magnitude when he declared that, "if it were not checked, it must end in +the ruin of public liberty." He was supported by Burke, and by two +lawyers, Mr. Dunning and Mr. Wedderburn, both destined to rise to some +of the highest offices in their profession; but he was opposed by the +Attorney-general, by Lord North, as leader of the House, and by Mr. +Fox--not yet turned into a patriot by Lord North's dismissal of him from +office. The debates, both in the whole House and in committee, were long +and earnest. Some of the ministerial underlings were not ashamed to deny +the necessity of any alteration in the existing practice; but their more +favorite argument was founded on the impropriety of the House +"delegating its authority to a committee," which was asserted to be "an +essential alteration of the constitution of the House of Commons." Lord +North himself had too keen an instinct of propriety to deny the +existence of a great evil, and contented himself with pleading for time +for farther consideration; while the Attorney-general confined his +objections to some details of the bill, which it would be easy to amend. +Others, with too accurate a foresight, doubted the efficacy of the +measure, and prophesied that the additional sanction of the oath, by +which its framer hoped to bind the committees to a just and honest +decision, would, "like oaths of office and Custom-house oaths, soon fall +into matters of form, and lose all sanction, and so make bad worse." On +the other hand, besides the arguments founded on the admitted greatness +of the evil to be remedied, it was shown that the institution of +committees, such as the bill proposed the appointment of, was sanctioned +by numerous precedents; and though the committees--sometimes consisting +of as many as two hundred members--were by far too large to make it +probable that all would bestow a careful attention on the whole case, +there was "nothing in the journals of the House to show that their +decisions were not regarded as final, or as requiring no subsequent +confirmation from the whole House." Generally speaking, Lord North could +trust the steadiness of his majority; but, to his great surprise, on +this occasion he found himself deserted by the country gentlemen, who +voted in a body for the bill, although their spokesman, Sir W. Bagot, +had been in no slight degree offended by some remarks of Burke, who, +with a strange imprudence, had claimed a monopoly of the title of +"friends of the constitution" for himself and his party, and had sneered +at the country gentlemen, as "statesmen of a very different description, +though, by a late description given of them, a Tory was now the best +species of Whig." And the union of the two bodies proved irresistible; +the bill was carried by a majority of sixty-two, and the government did +not venture to carry on their resistance to it in the House of Lords, +any interference by which would, indeed, have been resented by the +Commons, as a violation of their privileges. + +At first the duration of the bill was limited to seven years; but in +1774 it was made perpetual by a still larger majority, the experience of +its working having converted many who had at first opposed it, but who +now bore willing testimony to its efficacy. Unhappily, though the House +could make the bill perpetual, at least till formally repealed, it could +not invest its good effects with equal durability. After a time, the +same complaints were advanced against the decision of election +committees that had formerly been employed to discredit the judgments of +the whole House. The success or failure of a petition again became a +party question; and as in a committee of an odd number the +ministerialists or the Opposition must inevitably have a majority of at +least one member, before the end of the reign it had become as easy to +foretell the result of a petition from the composition of the committee +as it had been in the time of Walpole. And it was with the approval of +almost all parties--an approval extorted only by the absolute necessity +of the case--that, after one or two modifications of Mr. Grenville's act +had been tried, Mr. Disraeli induced the House to surrender altogether +its privilege of judging of elections, and to submit the investigations +of petitions on such subjects to the only tribunal sufficiently above +suspicion to command and retain the confidence of the nation, the judges +of the high courts of law. + +We shall probably be doing the House of Commons of the day no injustice, +if we surmise that the degree in which public attention had recently +been directed to the representation, and the interest which the people +were beginning to show in the purity of elections, as the principle on +the maintenance of which the very liberties of all might depend, had +some share in leading the House to establish the wholly new, though most +necessary, precedent of punishing a constituency for habitual and +inveterate corruption. It may be called the first fruits of Mr. +Grenville's act. At the end of the same year in which that statute had +been passed, a select committee had sat to try the merits of a petition +which complained of an undue return for the borough of New Shoreham. And +its report brought to light an organized system of corruption, which +there was too much reason to fear was but a specimen of that which +prevailed in many other boroughs as yet undetected. It appeared from the +report, founded as it was on the evidence and confession of many of the +persons inculpated, that a society had long existed in New Shoreham, +entitled the Christian Club, which, under this specious name, was +instituted, as they frankly acknowledged, for the express purpose of +getting as much money as possible at every election from the candidates +they brought in. The members of the club were under an oath and bond of +L500 not to divulge the secrets of the club, and to be bound by the +majority. On every election, a committee of five persons was nominated +by the club to treat with the candidates for as much money as they could +get. And, in pursuance of this system, when, on the death of Sir Stephen +Cornish, one of the members for the borough, five candidates offered +themselves to supply the vacancy, this committee of five opened +negotiations with them all. The offers of the rival purchasers were +liberal enough. One (General Smith) proposed to buy the entire club in +the lump for L3000, adding a promise to build 600 tons of shipping in +the town. A second (a Mr. Rumbold) was willing to give every freeman +L35; and his offer was accepted by the committee, who, however, +cautioned him that no freeman was entitled to the money who was not a +member of the Christian Club. He willingly agreed to this limitation of +his expenditure, and both he and the club regarded the matter as +settled. He paid every freeman who belonged to the club his stipulated +bribe, and on the polling day they tendered eighty-seven votes in his +favor, the entire constituency being something under one hundred and +fifty. The general, finding his L3000 declined, did not go to the poll; +but a Mr. Purling and Mr. James did, the latter polling only four votes, +the former only thirty-seven. What bribe Mr. Purling had given was never +revealed; but by some means or other he had contrived to render himself +the most acceptable of all the candidates to Mr. Roberts, the returning +officer. Roberts had himself been a member of the Christian Club, but +had quarrelled with it, and on the day of the election, as Rumbold's +voters came up, he administered to each of them the oath against +bribery. They took it without scruple; but he took it on himself to +pronounce seventy-six of them disqualified, and to refuse their votes; +and, having thus reduced Mr. Rumbold's voters to eleven, he returned Mr. +Purling as duly elected. + +Mr. Rumbold, not unnaturally, petitioned against such a return; when Mr. +Roberts admitted the facts alleged against him, but pleaded that he had +acted under the advice of counsel, who had assured him that it was +within his own discretion to admit or to refuse any votes that might be +tendered, and that he might lawfully refuse any "which in his own mind +he thought illegal." It is a striking proof of the laxity which +prevailed on every quarter in electioneering practices, that the House, +to a great extent, admitted his justification or excuse as valid. By a +strange stretch of lenity, they gave him credit for an honest intention, +and contented themselves with ordering him to be reprimanded by the +Speaker. But the case of the bribed freemen and of the borough generally +was too gross to be screened by any party. All agreed that the borough +must be regarded as incurably corrupt, and deserving of heavy +punishment. The Attorney-general was ordered to prosecute the five +members of the managing committee for "an illegal and corrupt +conspiracy;" and a bill was brought in to disfranchise and declare +forever incapable of voting at any election eighty-one freemen who had +been proved to have received bribes, and to punish the borough itself, +by extending the right of voting at future elections to all the +freeholders in the rape of Bramber, the district of Sussex in which New +Shoreham lies, an arrangement which reduced the borough itself to +comparative insignificance. Mr. Fox opposed the bill, on the ground that +the offence committed could be sufficiently punished by the ordinary +courts of law. But he stood alone in his resistance; the bill was +passed, and a salutary precedent was established; the penalty inflicted +on New Shoreham being for many years regarded as the most proper +punishment for all boroughs in which similar practices were proved to +prevail. + +And it might have continued to be thought so, had corruption been +confined to the smaller boroughs; but there was no doubt that in many +large towns corruption was equally prevalent and inveterate, while there +were also many counties in which the cost of a contest was by far too +large to be accounted for by any legitimate causes of expenditure. And +consequently, as time wore on, severer measures were considered +necessary. Some boroughs were deprived of the right of election +altogether; in others, whose population or constituency was too numerous +to make their permanent disfranchisement advisable, the writ was +suspended for a time, that its suspension might serve both as a +punishment and as a warning, a practice which is still not unfrequently +adopted. But no plan could be devised for dealing with the evil in +counties, till what seemed hopeless to achieve by direct legislation +was, in a great degree, effected by the indirect operation of the Reform +Bill of 1832. The shortening of the duration of an election, which was +henceforth concluded in a single day, and the multiplication of polling +places, which rendered it impossible to ascertain the progress of the +different candidates till the close of the poll, were provisions having +an inevitable and most salutary effect in diminishing alike the +temptation to bribe on the part of the candidate, and the opportunity of +enhancing the value of his vote by the elector. The vast increase of +newspapers, by diffusing political education and stimulating political +discussion, has had, perhaps, a still greater influence in the same +direction. And, as bribery could only be brought to bear on electors too +ignorant to estimate the importance of the exercise of the franchise by +any higher test than the personal advantage it might bring to +themselves, it is to the general diffusion of education among the poorer +classes, and their gradually improved and improving intelligence that a +complete eradication of electoral corruption can alone be looked for. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 1: "Constitutional History," vol. iii., p. 380; ed. 3, 1832. +The first edition was published in 1827.] + +[Footnote 2: Grampound. Corrupt voters had been disfranchised in New +Shoreham as early as 1771, and the franchise of the borough of Cricklade +had been transferred to the adjoining hundreds in 1782.] + +[Footnote 3: Parliament was dissolved March 19. Lord Bute succeeded Lord +Holdernesse March 25.] + +[Footnote 4: The greater part of Lord Bute's colleagues did, in fact, +retain their offices. Lord Egremont and Lord Halifax continued to be +Secretaries of State; Lord Henley (afterward Lord Northington) retained +the Great Seal; Lord North and Sir John Turner remained as Lords of the +Treasury; and Mr. Yorke and Sir Fletcher Norton were still Attorney and +Solicitor General.] + +[Footnote 5: Parliament was prorogued April 19, and _The North Briton_ +(No. 45) was published April 23.] + +[Footnote 6: A letter of the Prince Consort examines the principle of +ministerial responsibility with so remarkable a clearness of perception +and distinctness of explanation, that we may be excused for quoting it +at length: "The notion that the responsibility of his advisers impairs +the monarch's dignity and importance is a complete mistake. Here we have +no law of ministerial responsibility, for the simple reason that we have +no written constitution; but this responsibility flows as a logical +necessity from the dignity of the crown and of the sovereign. 'The King +can do no wrong,' says the legal axiom, and hence it follows that +somebody must be responsible for his measures, if these be contrary to +law or injurious to the country's welfare. Ministers here are not +responsible _qua_ ministers, that is, _qua_ officials (as such they are +responsible to the crown), but they are responsible to Parliament and +the people, or the country, as 'advisers of the crown.' Any one of them +may advise the crown, and whoever does so is responsible to the country +for the advice he has given. The so-called accountability of ministers +to Parliament does not arise out of an abstract principle of +responsibility, but out of the practical necessity which they are under +of obtaining the consent of Parliament to legislation and the voting of +taxes, and, as an essential to this end, of securing its confidence. In +practice, ministers are liable to account for the way and manner in +which they have administered the laws which they, conjointly with the +Parliament, have made, and for the way they have expended the moneys +that have been voted for definite objects. They are bound to furnish +explanations, to justify their proceedings, to satisfy reasonable +scruples, and the answer, 'We have, as dutiful subjects, obeyed the +sovereign,' will not be accepted. 'Have you acted upon conviction, or +have you not?' is the question. 'If you have not, then you are civil +servants of the crown, who counsel and do what you consider wrong or +unjust, with a view to retain your snug places or to win the favor of +the sovereign.' And this being so, Parliament withdraws its confidence +from them. Herein, too, lies that ministerial power of which sovereigns +are so much afraid. They can say, 'We will not do this or that which the +sovereign wishes, because we cannot be responsible for it.' But why +should a sovereign see anything here to be afraid of? To him it is, in +truth, the best of safeguards. A really loyal servant should do nothing +for which he is not prepared to answer, even though his master desires +it. This practical responsibility is of the utmost advantage to the +sovereign. Make independence, not subservience, the essential of +service, and you compel the minister to keep his soul free toward the +sovereign, you ennoble his advice, you make him staunch and patriotic, +while time-servers, the submissive instruments of a monarch's extreme +wishes and commands, may lead, and often have led, him to destruction. + +"But to revert to the law of responsibility. This ought not to be in +effect a safeguard for law itself. As such, it is superfluous in this +country, where law reigns, and where it would never occur to any one +that this could be otherwise. But upon the Continent it is of the +highest importance; as, where the government is an outgrowth of a +relation of supremacy and subordination between sovereign and subject, +and the servant, trained in ideas natural to this relation, does not +know which to obey, the law of the sovereign, the existence of such a +law would deprive him of the excuse which, should he offend the law, and +so be guilty of a crime, is ready to his hand in the phrase, 'The +sovereign ordered it so, I have merely obeyed,' while it would be a +protection to the sovereign that his servants, if guilty of a crime, +should not be able to saddle him with the blame of it."--_Life of the +Prince Consort_, v., 262.] + +[Footnote 7: "Lives of the Lord Chancellors," c. cxliii.] + +[Footnote 8: Indeed, the opinion which Lord Campbell thus expresses is +manifestly at variance with that which he had previously pronounced in +his life of Lord Northington, where he praised the House of Lords for +"very properly rejecting the bill passed by the Commons declaring +general warrants to be illegal, leaving this question to be decided (as +it was, satisfactorily) by the Courts of Common Law."] + +[Footnote 9: From a speech of Mr. Grenville delivered at a later period +(February 3, 1769, "Parliamentary History," xvi., 548), it appears that +the Secretaries of State who signed this general warrant did so against +their own judgment. "They repeatedly proposed to have Wilkes's name +inserted in the warrant of apprehension, but were overruled by the +lawyers and clerks of the office, who insisted that they could not +depart from the long-established precedents and course of proceeding." +And in one of these debates, Mr. Pitt, while denouncing with great +severity Grenville's conduct in procuring the issue of this particular +warrant, was driven to a strange confession of his own inconsistency, +since he was forced to admit that, while Secretary of State, he had +issued more than one general warrant in exactly similar form.] + +[Footnote 10: Strange to say, it does not seem absolutely certain that +Wilkes was the author of the "Essay on Woman." Horace Walpole eventually +learned, or believed that he had learned, that the author was a Mr. +Thomas Potter. (See Walpole's "George III.," i., 310; and Cunningham's +"Note on his Correspondence," iv., 126.)] + +[Footnote 11: These are the words of the resolution.--_Parliamentary +History_, xvi., 537. But it does not appear what the three libels were. +The "Essay on Woman" was one, the paraphrase of "Veni Creator" was a +second; no third of that character is mentioned.] + +[Footnote 12: The last resolution is approved by Mr. Hallam. "If a few +precedents were to determine all controversies of constitutional law, it +is plain enough from the journals that the House has assumed the power +of incapacitation. But as such authority is highly dangerous and +unnecessary for any good purpose, and as, according to all legal rules, +so extraordinary a power could not be supported except by a sort of +prescription that cannot be shown, the final resolution of the House of +Commons, which condemned the votes passed in times of great excitement, +appears far more consonant to first principles."--_Constitutional +History_, iii., 357.] + +[Footnote 13: Adolphus, "History of England," i., 484.] + +[Footnote 14: An idea of the license which the newspapers complained of +had permitted themselves at this time may be derived from the manner in +which one of them had introduced a speech of Mr. Jeremiah Dyson, M.P. +for Weymouth, and a Commissioner of the Treasury: "Jeremiah Weymouth, +the d----n of the kingdom, spoke as follows." And it may seem that the +Opposition (for the affair was made a party question) can hardly be +acquitted of a discreditable indifference to the dignity of the House in +supporting a resolution of Colonel Barre, that "Jeremiah Weymouth, the +d----n of this kingdom, is not a member of this House." On which the +previous question was moved by the ministers, and carried by 120 to +38.--_Parliamentary History_, xvii., 78. And an instance of rather the +opposite kind, of the guarded way in which the most respectable +publications were as yet accustomed to relate the transactions of +Parliament, may be gathered from the account of the proceedings in the +case of Wilkes, given in the "Annual Register" for 1770--drawn up, +probably, by Burke himself--in which Lord Camden is only mentioned as "a +great law lord;" Lord Chatham as "Lord C----m;" Lord Rockingham as "a +noble Marquis who lately presided at the head of public affairs;" the +King as "the K----;" Parliament as "P.;" and the House of Commons as the +"H. of C."--_Annual Register_, 1770, pp. 59-67.] + +[Footnote 15: On more than one occasion there had been disturbances in +the City, and in the streets adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, which +were little short of riot. One day the mob paraded effigies of the +principal ministers, which, after hanging and beheading them, they +committed to the flames with great uproar. On another day Mr. Charles +Fox (as yet a vehement Tory) complained to the House that the mob in +Palace Yard had insulted him, breaking the glasses of his chariot, and +pelting him with oranges, stones, etc.--_Parliamentary History_, xvii., +163.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The Regency Bill.--The Ministry of 1766 lay an Embargo on Corn.--An Act +of Indemnity is Passed.--The _Nullum Tempus_ Act concerning Crown +Property; it is sought to Extend it to Church Property, but the Attempt +fails.--The Royal Marriage Act.--The Lords amend a Bill imposing Export +Duties, etc., on Corn. + + +The prosecution of Wilkes was not the only act of Mr. Grenville's +administration which excited both the Parliament and the people. In 1764 +the King was attacked by a serious illness, and, as the Prince of Wales +was an infant scarcely two years old, it was manifestly necessary to +make arrangements for a Regency, in the event of the throne becoming +vacant while the heir was still a minor. A similar necessity had arisen +in the preceding reign on the death of the present King's father, and a +bill had accordingly been introduced by Mr. Pelham, the minister of the +day, which, in the event of the reigning sovereign dying during the +minority of the boy who had now become the immediate heir to the throne, +vested both the guardianship of his person and the Regency of the +kingdom in his mother, the Princess Dowager of Wales, who, however, in +the latter capacity, was only to act with the advice of a council, +composed of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Cumberland, and nine +principal officers of state. It was not concealed by either the King or +the Duke that they would have preferred a different arrangement, one +which would have conferred an uncontrolled Regency on the Duke himself; +but the bill was passed by great majorities in both Houses, and served +in some respects as a model for that which was now to be brought +forward, the difference being that the Regent was not to be expressly +named in it. To quote the words of the royal speech, the King "proposed +to the consideration of the two Houses whether, under the present +circumstances, it would not be expedient to vest in him the power of +appointing from time to time, by instrument in writing under his +sign-manual, either the Queen or any other member of the royal family +usually residing in Great Britain, to be the guardian of the person of +his successor, and the Regent of these kingdoms, until such successor +should attain the age of eighteen years, subject to such restrictions +and regulations as were specified and contained in an act passed on a +similar occasion in the fourteenth year of the late King; the Regent so +appointed to be assisted by a council, composed of the several persons +who, by reason of their dignities and offices, were constituted members +of the council established by that act, together with those whom the +Parliament might think proper to leave to his nomination." + +It may be doubted whether such a power as his Majesty desired was quite +consistent with the principles of the constitution. Parliament had, +indeed, granted Henry VIII. the still greater power of nominating a +series of successors; but the appointment which he consequently made by +will was eventually superseded, when, on the failure of his immediate +descendants, the representative of his elder sister, whom he had passed +over, was seated on the throne, to the exclusion of the descendants of +his younger sister, to whom he had given the preference. In France, the +last two kings, Louis XIII. and XIV., had both, when on their +death-beds, assumed the right of making the arrangements for the Regency +which would become necessary, the heir to the throne being in each case +a minor; but in each instance the arrangements which they had made were +disregarded. + +However, on the present occasion the minister (who must be taken to have +framed the King's speech) and the Parliament agreed in the propriety of +conferring the nomination of the Regent on the King himself;[16] and the +bill might have passed almost without notice, had it not been for a +strange display of the Prime-minister's ill-temper and mismanagement. +Mr. Grenville was at all times uncourtly and dictatorial in his manner, +even to the King himself; he was also of a suspicious disposition; and +though he was universally believed to have owed his promotion to his +present office to the recommendation of Lord Bute,[17] he was extremely +jealous of his predecessor. He professed to believe, and probably did +believe, that the King was still greatly under Lord Bute's influence +(though, in fact, they had never met since that minister had quitted the +Treasury), that Lord Bute was still as closely connected with the +Princess of Wales as scandal had formerly reported him to be, and that +George III., under the pressure of their combined influence, would be +induced to name his mother rather than his wife as the future Regent. +And he was so entirely swayed by this ridiculous and wholly groundless +fear, that, when the bill to give effect to the royal recommendation was +introduced into the House of Lords, he instigated one of his friends to +raise the question who were included in the general term "the royal +family," which Lord Halifax, as Secretary of State, answered by saying +that he regarded it as meaning "those only who were in order of +succession to the throne." Such a definition would have excluded the +Queen as effectually as the Princess Dowager; and when Mr. Grenville +found the peers reluctant to accept this view (which, indeed, his own +Lord Chancellor pronounced untenable), he then sent another of his +colleagues to represent to the King that his mother was so unpopular +that, even if the Lords should pass the bill in such a form as rendered +her eligible for nomination, the Commons would introduce a clause to +exclude her by name. With great unwillingness, and, it is said, not +without tears, George III. consented to the bill being so drawn as to +exclude her, and it passed the Lords in such a form. But when it reached +the Commons it was found that if the leaders of the Opposition hated +Bute much, they hated Grenville more. They moved the insertion of the +name of the Princess Dowager as one of the members of the royal family +whom the King might nominate Regent, if it should please him. Even +Grenville had not the boldness publicly to disparage his royal master's +royal mother; the Princess's name was inserted by a unanimous vote in +the list of those from whom the King was empowered to select the Regent, +and the amendment was gladly accepted by the House of Lords.[18] + +In spite, however, of the unanimity of the two Houses on the question, +it will probably be thought that the authors of the amendment, by which +it was proposed to address the King with an entreaty to name in the bill +the person to whom he desired to intrust the Regency, acted more in the +spirit of the constitution than those who were contented that the name +should be omitted; indeed, that statesmen of the present century agree +in holding that an arrangement of such importance should be made by the +Houses of Parliament, in concurrence with the sovereign, and not by the +sovereign alone, is shown by the steps taken to provide for a Regency in +the event of the demise of the reigning sovereign while the heir was a +minor, in the last and in the present reign, the second bill (that of +1840) being in this respect of the greater authority, since Lord +Melbourne, the Prime-minister, did not propose it without previously +securing the approval of the Duke of Wellington, in his character of +leader of the Opposition. + +We pass over for a moment the administration of Lord Rockingham, as we +have already passed over the taxation of our North American Colonies by +Mr. Grenville, because it will be more convenient to take all the +transactions relating to that subject together when we arrive at the +time when the troubles arising out of the policy of the different +administrations toward those Colonies were brought to a head by the +breaking out of civil war. Lord Rockingham's ministry, which succeeded +Mr. Grenville's, had, as is well known, but a brief existence, and was +replaced by the cabinet so whimsically composed by Mr. Pitt, who +reserved to himself the office of Privy Seal, with the Earldom of +Chatham; the Duke of Grafton being the nominal head of the Treasury, but +the direction of affairs being wholly in the hands of the new Earl, till +the failure of his health compelled his temporary retirement from public +life. Lord Chatham was brother-in-law to Mr. Grenville, to whom in the +occasional arrogance and arbitrariness of his disposition he bore some +resemblance; and one of the earliest acts of his administration, when +coupled with the language which he held on the subject in the House of +Lords, displayed that side of his character in a very conspicuous light. + +The summer of 1766 had been unusually wet and cold, both at home and +abroad, and the harvest had, in consequence, been so deficient as to +cause a very general apprehension of scarcity, while rumors were spread +that the high prices which the shortness of the crops could not fail to +produce were artificially raised by the selfish covetousness of some of +the principal corn-dealers, who were buying up all the grain which came +into the market, and storing it, with the object of making an exorbitant +profit out of the necessities of the consumer, not only at home but +abroad. The poorer classes, seeing themselves, as they believed, +threatened with famine, rose in riotous crowds, in some places attacking +the barns in which the corn was stored, and threatening destruction to +both the storehouses and the owners. The ministry first tried to repress +the discontent by the issue of a proclamation against "forestallers and +regraters," framed in the language and spirit of the Middle Ages; and, +when that proved ineffectual to restore confidence, they issued an Order +in Council absolutely prohibiting the exportation of any kind of grain, +and authorizing the detention of any vessels lying in any British harbor +which might be loaded with such a cargo. Our annals furnished no +instance of such an embargo having been laid on any article of commerce +in time of peace; but the crisis was difficult, the danger to the +tranquillity of the kingdom was great and undeniable, the necessity for +instant action seemed urgent, and probably few would have been inclined +to cavil at Lord Chatham's assertion, that the embargo "was an act of +power which, during the recess of Parliament, was justifiable on the +ground of necessity," had the ministry at once called Parliament +together to sanction the measure by an act of indemnity. But Lord +Chatham was at all times inclined to carry matters with a high hand, and +willingly adopted the opinion advanced by the Chancellor (Lord +Northington), that "the measure was strictly legal, and that no +indemnity was necessary." Lord Northington's language on the subject +Lord Campbell describes as "exhibiting his characteristic rashness and +recklessness, which seemed to be aggravated by age and experience,"[19] +and the censure does not seem too severe, since he presently "went so +far as to maintain that the crown had a right to interfere, even against +a positive act of parliament, and that proof of the necessity amounted +to a legal justification." But, however ill-considered his language may +have been, Lord Chatham adopted it, and acted on it so far as to decline +calling the Parliament together before the appointed time, though, when +the Houses did meet, he allowed General Conway, as Secretary of State, +to introduce a bill of indemnity in the House of Commons. It was warmly +opposed in that House, partly on the ground that, if such a measure as +the embargo had been necessary, it would have been easy to have +assembled Parliament before the Order in Council was issued (for, in +fact, the proclamation against forestallers and regraters had been +issued on the 10th of September, when Parliament, if not farther +prorogued, would have met within a week). But on that same day +Parliament was farther prorogued from the 16th of September till the +11th of November,[20] and it was not till after that prorogation, on the +24th of September, that the Order in Council was issued. + +In the House of Lords it seems to have been admitted that the embargo +was, under all the circumstances, not only desirable, but "indispensably +necessary."[21] But the Opposition in that House, being led by a great +lawyer (Chief-justice Lord Mansfield), took a wider view of the whole +case; and, after denouncing the long prorogation of Parliament as having +been so culpably advised that there was no way left of meeting the +emergency but by an interposition of the royal power, directed the +principal weight of their argument against the doctrine of the existence +of any dispensing power. It was urged that the late Order in Council +could only be justified by "the general proposition that of any, and, if +of any, of every, act of parliament the King, with the advice of the +Privy Council, may suspend the execution and effect whenever his +Majesty, so advised, judges it necessary for the immediate safety of the +people." And this proposition was denounced as utterly inconsistent with +the principles of the Revolution, which had been "nothing but a most +lawless and wicked invasion of the rights of the crown," if such a +dispensing power were really one of the lawful prerogatives of the +sovereign. Reference was made to the powers in more than one instance, +and especially in the case of ship-money claimed and exercised by +Charles I.; and it was affirmed that "the dispensing and suspending +power, and that of raising money without the consent of Parliament, were +precisely alike, and stood on the very same ground. They were born +twins; they lived together, and together were buried in the same grave +at the Revolution, past all power of resurrection." It was even argued +that the dispensing or suspending power was yet more dangerous than that +of raising money without a Parliamentary vote, since it was a power +which might do the most mischief, and with the greatest speed, so many +were the subjects which it included. It would be a return to the maxims +of the idolators of prerogative as understood in those earlier days, +that is, of absolute and arbitrary power, _a Deo Rex, a Rege Lex_. It +was farther argued that, unless it could be said that the moment +Parliament breaks up the King stands in its place, and that the +continuance of acts is consigned into his hands, he cannot of right +suspend any more than he can make laws, both acts requiring the same +power. The law is above the King, and the crown as well as the subject +is bound by it as much during the recess as in the session of +Parliament; and therefore the wisdom of the constitution has excluded +every discretion in the crown over a positive statute, and has +emancipated Parliament from the royal prerogative, leaving the power of +suspension, which is but another name for a temporary repeal, to reside +where the legislative power is lodged--that is, in King, Lords, and +Commons, who together constitute the only supreme authority of this +government. Precedents were cited to prove that in former times +different ministries had avoided thus taking the law into their own +hands, as when, in 1709 and again in 1756, there was a similar +apprehension of scarcity, even though both those years were years of +war. And the Bill of Rights was quoted as the statute in which every +sort of dispensing power was condemned, though, as exercised by James +II., it had only been exerted in dispensing with penal laws and +remitting penalties. + +"Finally," said one speaker, who perhaps was Lord Mansfield himself, "he +is not a moderate minister who would rashly decide in favor of +prerogative in a question where the rights of Parliament are involved, +nor a prudent minister who, even in a doubtful case, commits the +prerogative, by a wanton experiment, to what degree the people will bear +the extent of it. The opposite course was that by which a minister would +consult the best interests of the crown, as well as of the people. The +safety of the crown, as well as the security of the subject, requires +the closing up of every avenue that can lead to tyranny."[22] + +These arguments prevailed, and the indemnity bill was passed, to quote +the words of the "Annual Register"--at that time written by Burke--"very +much to the satisfaction of the public." And that it should have been so +accepted is creditable to the good-sense of both parties. The precedent +which was thus established does, indeed, seem to rest on a principle +indispensable to the proper working of a constitutional government. In +so extensive an empire as ours, it is scarcely possible that sudden +emergencies, requiring the instant application of some remedy, should +not at times arise; and, unless Parliament be sitting at the time, such +can only be adequately dealt with if the ministers of the crown have the +courage to take such steps as are necessary, whether by the suspension +of a law or by any other expedient, on their own responsibility, +trusting in their ability to satisfy the Parliament, instantly convoked +to receive their explanation, of the necessity or wisdom of their +proceedings; and in the candor of the Parliament to recognize, if not +the judiciousness of their action, at all events the good faith in which +it has been taken, and the honest, patriotic intention which has +dictated it. The establishment of the obligation instantly to submit the +question to the judgment of Parliament will hardly be denied to be a +sufficient safeguard against the ministerial abuse of such a power; and +the instances in which such a power has since been exercised, coupled +with the sanction of such exercise by Parliament, are a practical +approval and ratification by subsequent Parliaments of the course that +was now adopted.[23] + +The next year a not very creditable job of the ministry led to the +enactment of a statute of great importance to all holders of property +which had ever belonged to the crown. In the twenty-first year of James +I. a bill had been passed giving a secure tenure of their estates to all +grantees of crown lands whose possession of them had lasted sixty years. +The Houses had desired to make the enactment extend to all future as +well as to all previous grants. But to this James had refused to +consent; and, telling the Houses that "beggars must not be choosers," he +had compelled them to content themselves with a retrospective statute. +Since his time, and especially in the reigns of Charles II. and William +III., the crown had been more lavish and unscrupulous than at any former +period in granting away its lands and estates to favorites. And no one +had been so largely enriched by its prodigality as the most grasping of +William's Dutch followers, Bentinck, the founder of the English house of +Portland. Among the estates which he had obtained from his royal +master's favor was one which went by the name of the Honor of Penrith. +Subsequent administrations had augmented the dignities and importance of +his family. Their Earldom had been exchanged for a Dukedom; but the +existing Duke was an opponent of the present ministry, who, to punish +him, suggested to Sir James Lowther, a baronet of ancient family, and of +large property in the North of England, the idea of applying to the +crown for a grant of the forest of Inglewood, and of the manor of +Carlisle, which hitherto had been held by Portland as belonging to the +Honor of Penrith, but which, not having been expressly mentioned in the +original grant by William III., it was now said had been regarded as +included in the honor only by mistake. It was not denied that Portland +had enjoyed the ownership of these lands for upward of seventy years +without dispute; and, had the statute of James been one of continual +operation, it would have been impossible to deprive him of them. But, as +matters stood, the Lords of the Treasury willingly listened to the +application of Sir James Lowther; they even refused permission to the +Duke to examine the original deed and the other documents in the office +of the surveyor, on which he professed to rely for the establishment of +his right; and they granted to Sir James the lands he prayed for at a +rent which could only be regarded as nominal. The injustice of the +proceeding was so flagrant, that in the beginning of 1768 Sir George +Savile brought in a bill to prevent any repetition of such an act by +making the statute of James I. perpetual, so that for the future a +possession for sixty years should confer an indisputable and +indefeasible title. The ministers opposed it with great vehemence, even +taking some credit to themselves for their moderation in not requiring +from the Duke a repayment of the proceeds of the lands in question for +the seventy years during which he had held them. But the case was so bad +that they could only defeat Sir George Savile by a side-wind and a +scanty majority, carrying an amendment to defer any decision of the +matter till the next session. Sir George, however, was not discouraged; +he renewed his motion in 1769, when it was carried by a large majority, +with an additional clause extending its operation to the Colonies in +North America; and thus, in respect of its territorial rights, the crown +was placed on the same footing as any private individual, and the same +length of tenure which enabled a possessor to hold a property against +another subject henceforth equally enabled him to hold it against the +crown. The policy not less than the justice of such an enactment might +have been thought to commend it to every thinking man as soon as the +heat engendered by a party debate had passed away. It had merely placed +the sovereign and the subject on the same footing in respect of the +security which prescription gave to possession. And it might, therefore, +have been thought that the vote of 1769 had settled the point in every +case; since what was the law between one private individual and another, +and between the sovereign and a subject, might well have been taken to +be of universal application. But the ministry were strangely unwilling +to recognize such a universal character in the late act, and found in +the peculiar character of ecclesiastical bodies and ecclesiastical +property a pretext for weakening the force of the late enactment, by +denying the applicability of the principle to the claims of +ecclesiastical chapters. In 1772 Mr. Henry Seymour, one of the members +for Huntingdon, moved for leave to bring in a bill, which he described +as one "for quieting the subjects of the realm against the dormant +claims of the Church;" or, in other words, for putting the Church on the +same footing with respect to property which had passed out of its +possession as the crown had been placed in by the act of 1769. He +contended that such a bill ought to be passed, not only on the general +principle that possessors who derived their property from one source +ought not to be less secure than they who derived it from another, but +also on the grounds that, as ecclesiastical bodies occasionally used +their power, "length of possession, which fortified and strengthened +legal right and just title in every other case, did in this alone render +them more weak and uncertain," from the difficulty which often occurred +in finding documentary proof of very ancient titles; and that this was +not an imaginary danger, since a member of the House then present had +recently lost L120,000 by a bishop reviving a claim to an estate after +the gentleman's family had been in undisturbed possession of it above a +hundred years. The defence of the Church, however, was taken up by Mr. +Skinner, Attorney-general for the Duchy of Lancaster, who argued that +though, in the case of the crown, the _nullum tempus_ which it had +formerly claimed, and which had been put an end to in 1769, was "an +engine in the hands of the strong to oppress the weak, the _nullum +tempus_ of the Church was a defence to the weak against the strong," as +its best if not its sole security "against the encroachment of the +laity." The "Parliamentary History" records that in the course of a long +debate Lord North opposed the bringing in of the bill, as did "the +Lord-advocate of Scotland, who gave as a reason in favor of the bill, +though he voted against it, that a law of similar nature had passed in +Scotland, and that the whole kingdom, clergy as well as laity, found the +very best effects from it."[24] Burke argued in favor of the bill with +great force, declaring that in so doing "he did not mean anything +against the Church, her dignities, her honor, her privileges, or her +possessions; he should wish even to enlarge them all; but this bill was +to take nothing from her but the power of making herself odious." But +the ministerial majority was too well disciplined to be broken, and Mr. +Seymour could not even obtain leave to bring in the bill. + +The year 1772 was marked by the discussion of a measure which the King +seems to have regarded as one of private interest only, affecting his +personal rights over his own family. But it is impossible to regard +transactions which may affect the right of succession to the throne as +matters of only private interest. And indeed the bill was treated as one +involving a constitutional question by both sides of both Houses, and as +such was discussed with remarkable earnestness, and with vehemence +equalling that of any other debate which had as yet taken place since +the commencement of the reign. The bill had its origin in the personal +feelings of the King himself, who had been greatly annoyed at the +conduct of his brother, the Duke of Cumberland, in marrying a widow of +the name of Horton, daughter of Lord Irnham, and sister of the Colonel +Luttrell whom the vote of the House of Commons had seated as member for +Middlesex; and perhaps still more at the discovery that his other +brother, the Duke of Gloucester, to whom he was greatly attached, had +married another subject, the widowed Lady Waldegrave. His Majesty's +dissatisfaction was, perhaps, heightened by the recollection that he +himself, in early manhood, had also been strongly attracted by the +charms of another subject, and had sacrificed his own inclinations to +the combined considerations of pride of birth and the interests of his +kingdom. And, though there was a manifest difference between the +importance of the marriage of the sovereign himself and that of princes +who were never likely to become sovereigns, he thought it not +unreasonable that he should be empowered to exercise such a general +guardianship over the entire family, of which he was the head, as might +enable him to control its members in such arrangements, by making his +formal sanction indispensable to the validity of any matrimonial +alliances which they might desire to contract. A somewhat similar +question had been raised in 1717, when George I., having quarrelled with +the Prince of Wales (afterward George II.), asserted a claim to control +and direct the education of all the Prince's children, and, when they +should be of marriageable age, to arrange their marriages. The Prince, +on the other hand, insisted on his natural and inalienable right, as +their father, to have the entire government of his own offspring, a +right which, as he contended, no royal prerogative could be enabled or +permitted to override. That question was not, however, brought before +Parliament, to which, at that time, the King could, probably, not have +trusted for any leanings in his favor; but he referred it, in an +informal way, to the Lord Chancellor (Lord Cowper) and the Common-law +Judges. They investigated it with great minuteness. A number of +precedents were adduced for the marriage and education of the members of +the royal family being regulated by the sovereign, beginning with Henry +III., who gave his daughter Joan, without her own consent, in marriage +to the King of Scotland, and coming down to the preceding century, at +the commencement of which the Council of James I. committed the Lady +Arabella Stuart and Mr. Seymour to the Tower for contracting a secret +marriage without the King's permission, and at the end of which King +William exercised the right of selecting a tutor for the Duke of +Gloucester, the son of the Princess Anne, without any consultation with +the Princess herself; and finally the judges, with only two dissenting +voices, expressed their conviction that the King was entitled to the +prerogative which he claimed. The case does not, however, seem to have +been regularly argued before them; there is no trace of their having +been assisted in their deliberations by counsel on either side, and +their extra-judicial opinion was clearly destitute of any formal +authority;[25] so that it came before Parliament in some degree as a new +question. + +But George III. was not of a disposition to allow such matters to remain +in doubt, and, in compliance with his desire, a bill was, in 1772, +introduced by Lord Rochfort, as Secretary of State, which proposed to +enact that no descendants of the late King, being children or +grandchildren, and presumptive heirs of the sovereign, male or female, +other than the issue of princesses who might be married into foreign +families, should be capable of contracting a valid marriage without the +previous consent of the reigning sovereign, signified under his +sign-manual, and that any marriage contracted without such consent +should be null and void. The King or the ministers apparently doubted +whether Parliament could be prevailed on to make such a prohibition +life-long, and therefore a clause was added which provided that if any +prince or princess above the age of twenty-five years should determine +to contract a marriage without such consent of the sovereign, he or she +might do so on giving twelve months' notice to the Privy Council; and +such marriage should be good and valid, unless, before the expiration of +the twelve months, both Houses of Parliament should declare their +disapproval of the marriage. The concluding clause of the bill made it +felony "to presume to solemnize, or to assist, or to be present, at the +celebration of any such marriage without such consent being first +obtained." + +The bill was stoutly resisted in both Houses at every stage, both on the +ground of usage and of general principle. It was positively denied that +the "sovereign's right of approving of all marriages in the royal +family," which was asserted in the preamble of the bill, was either +founded in law, or established by precedent, or warranted by the opinion +of the judges. And it was contended that there never had been a time +when the possession of royal rank had been considered necessary to +qualify any one to become consort of an English prince or princess. It +had not even been regarded as a necessary qualification for a queen. +Three of the wives of Henry VIII. had been English subjects wholly +unconnected with the royal family; nor had the Parliament nor the people +in general complained of any one of those marriages; moreover, two of +his children, who had in their turn succeeded to the crown, had been the +offspring of two of those wives; and in the last century James II., +while Duke of York, had married the daughter of an English gentleman; +and, though it had not been without notorious reluctance that his royal +brother had sanctioned that connection, it was well known that Charles +II. himself had proposed to marry the niece of Cardinal Mazarin. In the +House of Peers, Lord Camden especially objected to the clause annulling +a marriage between persons of full age; and in the Commons, Mr. +Dowdeswell, who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord +Rockingham's administration, dwelt with especial vigor on the +unreasonableness of the clause which fixed twenty-five as the age before +which no prince or princess could marry without the King's consent. +"Law, positive law," he argued, "and not the arbitrary will of an +individual, should be the only restraint. Men who are by law allowed at +twenty-one[26] to be fit for governing the realm may well be supposed +capable of choosing and governing a wife."[27] Lord Folkestone condemned +with great earnestness the expression in the preamble that the bill was +dictated "by the royal concern for the honor and dignity of the crown," +as implying a doctrine that an alliance of a subject with a branch of +the royal family is dishonorable to the crown--a doctrine which he +denounced as "an oblique insult" to the whole people, and which, as +such, "the representatives of the people were bound to oppose." And he +also objected to the "vindicatory part," as he termed the clause which +declared those who might assist, or even be present, at a marriage +contracted without the royal permission guilty of felony.[28] + +The ministry, however, had a decided majority in both Houses, and the +bill became and remains the law of the land, though fourteen peers, +including one bishop, entered a protest against it on nine different +grounds, one of which condemned it as "an extension of the royal +prerogative for which the great majority of the judges found no +authority;" while another, with something of prophetic sagacity, urged +that the bill "was pregnant with civil discord and confusion, and had a +natural tendency to produce a disputed title to the crown." + +It may be doubted whether the circumstances which had induced George +III. to demand such a power as that with which the bill invested him +justified its enactment. He was already the father of a family so +numerous as to render it highly improbable that either of his brothers +or any of their children would ever come to the throne; while, as a +previously existing law barred any prince or princess who might marry a +Roman Catholic from the succession, the additional restraint imposed by +the new statute practically limited their choice to an inconveniently +small number of foreign royal houses, many of which, to say the least, +are not superior in importance or purity of blood to many of our own +nobles. + +Nor can it be said to have been successful in accomplishing his +Majesty's object. It is notorious that two of his sons, and very +generally believed that one of his daughters, married subjects; the +Prince of Wales having chosen a wife who was not only inferior in rank +and social position to Lady Waldegrave or Mrs. Horton, but was moreover +a Roman Catholic; and that another of his sons petitioned more than once +for permission to marry an English heiress of ancient family. And our +present sovereign may be thought to have pronounced her opinion that the +act goes too far, when she gave one of her younger daughters in marriage +to a nobleman who, however high in rank, has no royal blood in his +veins. The political inconvenience which might arise from the +circumstance of the reigning sovereign being connected by near and +intimate relationship with a family of his British subjects will, +probably, always be thought to render it desirable that some restriction +should be placed on the marriage of the heir-apparent; but where the +sovereign is blessed with a numerous offspring, there seems no +sufficient reason for sending the younger branches of the royal house to +seek wives or husbands in foreign countries. And as the precedent set in +the case of the Princess Louise has been generally approved, it is +probable that in similar circumstances it may be followed, and that such +occasional relaxation of the act of 1772 will be regarded as justified +by and consistent with the requirements of public policy as well as by +the laws of nature.[29] Generally speaking, the two Houses agreed in +their support of the ministerial policy both at home and abroad; but, in +spite of this political harmony, a certain degree of bad feeling existed +between them, which on one occasion led to a somewhat singular scene in +the House of Commons. The Commons imputed its origin to the discourtesy +of the Lords, who, when members of the Commons were ordered by their +House to carry its bills up to the peers, sometimes kept them "waiting +three hours in the lobby among their lordships' footmen before they +admitted them." Burke affirmed that this had happened to himself, and +that he "spoke of it, not out of any personal pride, nor as an indignity +to himself, but as a flagrant disgrace to the House of Commons, which, +he apprehended, was not inferior in rank to any other branch of the +Legislature, but co-ordinate with them." And the irritation which such +treatment excited led the Commons, perhaps not very unnaturally, to seek +some opportunity to vindicate their dignity. They found it in an +amendment which the Lords made on a corn bill. In the middle of April, +1772, resolutions had been passed by the Commons, in a committee of the +whole House, imposing certain duties on the importation of wheat[30] and +other grain when they were at a certain price, which was fixed at 48s., +and granting bounties on exportation when the price fell below 44s. The +Lords made several amendments on the bill, and, among others, one to +strike out the clause which granted bounties. But when the bill thus +amended came back to the Commons, even those who disliked the principle +of bounties resented this act of the Lords in meddling with that +question, which they regarded as a violation of their peculiar and most +cherished privilege, the exclusive right of dealing with questions of +taxation. Governor Pownall, who had charge of the bill, declared that +the Lords had forgotten their duty when they interfered in raising money +by the insertion of a clause that "no bounty should be paid upon +exported corn." And on this ground he moved the rejection of the +bill.[31] In the last chapter of this volume, a more fitting occasion +for examining the rights and usages of the House of Lords with respect +to money-bills will be furnished by a series of resolutions on the +subject, moved by the Prime-minister of the day. It is sufficient here +to say that the power of rejection is manifestly so different from that +of originating grants--which is admitted to belong exclusively to the +Commons--and that there were so many precedents for the Lords having +exerted this power of rejection in the course of the preceding century, +that they probably never conceived that in so doing now they were +committing any encroachment on the constitutional rights and privileges +of the Lower House. But on this occasion the ill-feeling previously +existing between the two Houses may be thought to have predisposed the +Commons to seek opportunity for a quarrel. And there never was a case in +which both parties in the House were more unanimous. Governor Pownall +called the rejection of the clause by the Lords "a flagrant encroachment +upon the privileges of the House," and affirmed that the Lords had +"forgotten their duty." Burke termed it "a proof that the Lords did not +understand the principles of the constitution, an invasion of a known +and avowed right inherent in the House as the representatives of the +people," and expressed a hope that "they were not yet so infamous and +abandoned as to relinquish this essential right," or to submit to "the +annihilation of all their authority." Others called it "an affront which +the House was bound to resent, and the more imperatively in consequence +of the absence of a good understanding between the two Houses." And the +Speaker, Sir John Cust, went beyond all his brother members in violence, +declaring that "he would do his part in the business, and toss the bill +over the table." The bill was rejected _nem. con._, and the Speaker +tossed it over the table, several of the members on both sides of the +question kicking it as they went out;[32] and to such a pitch of +exasperation had they worked themselves up, that "the Game Bill, in +which the Lords had made alterations, was served in a similar manner," +though those alterations only referred to the penalties to be imposed +for violations of the Game-law, and could by no stretch of ingenuity be +connected with any question of taxation. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 16: A motion was, indeed, made (but the "Parliamentary +History," xvi., 55, omits to state by whom) that the House should +"humbly entreat his Majesty, out of his tender and paternal regard for +his people, that he would be graciously pleased to name the person or +persons whom, in his royal wisdom, he shall think fit to propose to the +consideration of Parliament for the execution of those high trusts, this +House apprehending it not warranted by precedent nor agreeable to the +principles of this free constitution to vest in any person or persons +not particularly named and approved of in Parliament the important +offices of Regent of these kingdoms and guardian of the royal offspring +heirs to the crown." But "it passed in the negative," probably, if we +may judge by other divisions on motions made by the same party, by an +overwhelming majority.] + +[Footnote 17: No one doubted that this choice had been made under the +influence of Lord Bute, and was designed for the preservation of that +influence.--Lord Stanhope, _History of England_, v., 41.] + +[Footnote 18: In his speech in the House of Lords on the Regency Bill of +1840, the Duke of Sussex stated that George III. had nominated the Queen +as Regent in the first instance, and, in the event of her death, the +Princess Dowager.] + +[Footnote 19: "Lives of the Chancellors," c. cxli.] + +[Footnote 20: It appears from these dates that it was not yet understood +that Parliament could not be prorogued for a longer period than forty +days.] + +[Footnote 21: These words occur in a speech attributed to Lord +Mansfield. There is no detailed account of the debates on this subject +in either House. All that exists in the "Parliamentary History" is a +very brief abstract of the discussion in the Commons, and a document +occupying above sixty pages of the same work (pp. 251-314), entitled "A +Speech on behalf of the Constitution against the Suspending and +Dispensing Prerogative," etc., with a foot-note explaining that "this +speech was supposed to be penned by Lord Mansfield, but was, in fact, +written by Mr. Macintosh, assisted by Lord Temple and Lord Lyttleton." +It certainly seems to contain internal evidence that it was not written +by any lawyer, from the sneers at and denunciations of lawyers which it +contains, as a class of men who "have often appeared to be the worst +guardians of the constitution, and too frequently the wickedest enemies +to, and most treacherous betrayers of, the liberties of their country." +But, by whomsoever it was "penned" and published, the arguments which it +contains against the dispensing power were, probably, those which had +been urged by the great Chief-justice, and as such I have ventured to +cite them here.] + +[Footnote 22: In his "Lives of the Chief-justices" (c. xxxvi., life of +Lord Mansfield), Lord Campbell says, with reference to this case: "The +Chief-justice's only considerable public exhibition during this period +was his attack on the unconstitutional assertion of Lord Chatham and +Lord Camden, that, in a case of great public emergency, the crown could +by law dispense with an act of parliament. The question arising from the +embargo on the exportation of corn, in consequence of apprehended +famine, he proved triumphantly that, although the measure was expedient +and proper, it was a violation of law, and required to be sanctioned by +an act of indemnity." And Lord Campbell adds, in a note: "This doctrine, +acted upon in 1827, during the administration of Mr. Canning, and on +several subsequent occasions, is now universally taken for +constitutional law" (ii., 468).] + +[Footnote 23: To adduce a single instance, worthy of remark as affecting +the personal liberty of the subject, in 1818 a bill of indemnity was +passed to sanction the action of the ministry in arresting and detaining +in prison, without bringing them to trial, several persons accused of +being implicated in seditious proceedings (_vide infra_).] + +[Footnote 24: Vol. xvii., 304.] + +[Footnote 25: The case is mentioned by Lord Campbell in his "Lives of +the Chancellors," c. cxxi. (life of Lord Macclesfield) and c. cxxiv. +(life of Lord Chancellor King).] + +[Footnote 26: In fact, however, the age at which a young prince was +considered competent to exercise the royal authority in person had been +fixed at eighteen; and it is so stated in the speech in which the King, +in 1765, recommended the appointment of a Regent to Parliament.-- +_Parliamentary History_, xvi., 52.] + +[Footnote 27: This idea was expanded into an epigram, which appeared in +most of the daily papers, and has been thought worthy of being preserved +in the "Parliamentary History," xvii., 401 (note): + + "Quoth Dick to Tom, 'This act appears + Absurd, as I'm alive, + To take the crown at eighteen years, + A wife at twenty-five. + The mystery how shall we explain? + For sure, as Dowdeswell said, + Thus early if they're fit to _reign_, + They must be fit to _wed_.' + Quoth Tom to Dick, 'Thou art a fool, + And nothing know'st of life; + Alas! it's easier far to rule + A kingdom than a wife.'"] + +[Footnote 28: It is remarkable that this clause on one occasion proved +an obstacle to the punishment of the abettors of such a marriage. In +1793 the Duke of Sussex married Lady Augusta Murray, first at Rome, and +afterward, by banns, at St. George's, Hanover Square. And when the +affair came to be investigated by the Privy Council, Lord Thurlow +denounced the conduct of the pair in violent terms, and angrily asked +the Attorney-general, Sir John Scott, why he had not prosecuted all the +parties concerned in this abominable marriage. Sir John's reply, as he +reported it himself, was sufficiently conclusive: "I answered that it +was a very difficult business to prosecute; that the act, it was +understood, had been drawn by Lord Mansfield, the Attorney-general +Thurlow, and the Solicitor-general Wedderburn, who, unluckily, had made +all persons present at the marriage guilty of felony. And as nobody +could prove the marriage except a person who had been present at it, +there could be no prosecution, because nobody present could be compelled +to be a witness."--THORP'S _Life of Eldon_, i., 235.] + +[Footnote 29: A protest against the bill, entered by fourteen peers, +including one bishop (of Bangor), denounced it, among other objections, +as "contrary to the original inherent rights of human nature ... +exceeding the power permitted by Divine Providence to human legislation +... and shaking many of the foundations of law, religion, and public +security."--_Parliamentary History_, xvii., 391.] + +[Footnote 30: The import duty on wheat was fixed at 6_d_. a quarter on +grain, and 2_d_. per cwt. on flour, when the price of wheat in the +kingdom should be at or above 48s.; when it was at or above 44s., the +exportation was to be altogether prohibited.--_Parliamentary History_, +xvii., 476.] + +[Footnote 31: See Hallam, "Constitutional History," iii., 38-46, ed. +1833, where, as far as the imperfection of our early Parliamentary +records allows, he traces the origin of the assertion of this peculiar +privilege by the Commons, especially referring to a discussion of the +proper limits of this privilege in several conferences between the two +Houses; where, as on some other occasions, he sees, in the assertion of +their alleged rights by the Commons, "more disposition to make +encroachments than to guard against those of others." A few years before +(in 1763), the House of Lords showed that they had no doubt of their +right to reject a money-bill, since they divided on the Cider Bill, +which came under that description. As, however, the bill was passed, +that division was not brought under the notice of the House. But in +1783, in the time of the Coalition Ministry, the peers having made +amendments on the American Intercourse Bill, "the Speaker observed that, +as the bill empowered the crown to impose duties, it was, strictly +speaking, a money-bill, and therefore the House could not, consistently +with its own orders, suffer the Lords to make any amendments on it, and +he recommended that the consideration of their amendments should be +postponed for three months, and in the mean time a new bill framed +according to the Lords' amendments should be passed." The recommendation +was approved by Mr. Pitt, as leader of the Opposition, and approved and +acted on by Mr. Fox, as leader of the ministry in that House. But, at +the same time, Mr. Fox fully admitted the right of the Lords to discuss +such questions, "for it would be very absurd indeed to send a loan bill +to the Lords for their concurrence, and at the same time deprive them of +the right of deliberation. To lay down plans and schemes for loans +belonged solely to the Commons; and he was willing, therefore, that the +amended bill should be rejected, though he was of opinion that the order +of the House respecting money-bills was often too strictly construed." +And he immediately moved for leave to bring in a new bill, which was +verbatim the same with the amended bill sent down by the +Lords.--_Parliamentary History_, xxiii., 895. The question was revived +in the present reign, on the refusal of the Lords to concur in the +abolition of the duty on paper, when the whole subject was discussed +with such elaborate minuteness, and with so much more command of temper +than was shown on the present occasion, that it will be better to defer +the examination of the principle involved till we come to the history of +that transaction.] + +[Footnote 32: "Parliamentary History," xvii., 515.] + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +Mr. Grenville imposes a Duty on Stamps in the North American +Colonies.--Examination of Dr. Franklin.--Lord Rockingham's Ministry +Repeals the Duty.--Lord Mansfield affirms a Virtual Representation in +the Colonies.--Mr. C. Townsend imposes Import Duties in America.--After +some Years, the Civil War breaks out.--Hanoverian Troops are sent to +Gibraltar.--The Employment of Hanoverian Regiments at Gibraltar and +Minorca.--End of the War.--Colonial Policy of the Present +Reign.--Complaints of the Undue Influence of the Crown.--Motions for +Parliamentary Reform.--Mr. Burke's Bill for Economical Reform.--Mr. +Dunning's Resolution on the Influence of the Crown.--Rights of the Lords +on Money-bills.--The Gordon Riots. + + +But during these years another matter had been gradually forcing its way +to the front, which, though at first it attracted but comparatively +slight notice, when it came to a head, absorbed for several years the +whole attention, not only of these kingdoms, but of foreign countries +also. It was originally--in appearance, at least--merely a dispute +between Great Britain and her Colonies in North America on the mode of +obtaining a small revenue from them. But, in its progress, it eventually +involved us in a foreign war of great magnitude, and thus became the one +subject of supreme interest to every statesman in Europe. England had +not borne her share in the seven years' war without a considerable +augmentation of the national debt, and a corresponding increase in the +amount of yearly revenue which it had become necessary to raise;[33] and +Mr. Grenville, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, had to devise the means +of meeting the demand. A year before, he had supported with great warmth +the proposal of Sir Francis Dashwood, his predecessor at the Exchequer, +to lay a new tax upon cider. Now that he himself had succeeded to that +office, he cast his eyes across the Atlantic, and, on the plea that the +late war had to a certain extent been undertaken for the defence of the +Colonies in North America, he proposed to make them bear a share in the +burden caused by enterprises from which they had profited. Accordingly, +in March, 1764, he proposed a series of resolutions imposing a variety +of import duties on different articles of foreign produce imported into +"the British Colonies and plantations in America," and also export +duties on a few articles of American growth when "exported or conveyed +to any other place except to Great Britain." Another resolution affirmed +"that, toward defraying the said expense, it might be proper to charge +certain stamp-duties in the said Colonies and plantations." + +The resolutions imposing import and export duties were passed by both +Houses almost without comment. That relating to a stamp-duty he did not +press at the moment, announcing that he postponed it for a year, in +order to ascertain in what light it would be regarded by the Colonists +themselves; and as most, if not all, of the Colonies had a resident +agent in London, he called them together, explained to them the object +and anticipated result of the new imposition (for such he admitted it to +be), and requested them to communicate his views to their constituents, +adding an offer that, if they should prefer any other tax likely to be +equally productive, he should be desirous to consult their wishes in the +matter. + +He probably regarded such language on his part as a somewhat superfluous +exercise of courtesy or conciliation, so entire was his conviction of +the omnipotence of Parliament, and of the impossibility of any loyal man +or body of men calling its power in question. But he was greatly +deceived. His message was received in America with universal +dissatisfaction. Of the thirteen States which made up the body of +Colonies, there was scarcely one whose Assembly did not present a +petition against the proposed measure, and against any other which might +be considered as an alternative. Grenville, however, was not a man to be +moved by petitions or remonstrances. He was rather one whom opposition +of any kind hardened in his purpose; and, as no substitute had been +suggested, at the opening of the session of 1765 he proposed a series of +resolutions requisite to give effect to the vote of the previous year, +and imposing "certain stamp-duties and other duties" on the settlements +in America, perhaps thinking to render his disregard of the objections +which had been made less unpalatable by the insertion of words binding +the government to apply the sums to be thus raised to "the expenses of +defending, protecting, and securing" the Colonies themselves. The +resolutions were passed, as the "Parliamentary History" records, "almost +without debate," on the 6th of March.[34] But the intelligence was +received in every part of the Colonies with an indignant +dissatisfaction, which astonished even their own agents in England.[35] +Formidable riots broke out in several provinces. In Massachusetts the +man who had been appointed Distributor of Stamps was burnt in effigy; +the house of the Lieutenant-governor was attacked by a furious mob, who +avowed their determination to murder him if he fell into their hands; +and resolutions were passed by the Assemblies of the different States to +convene a General Congress at New York in the autumn, to organize a +resistance to the tax, and to take the general state of affairs into +consideration. + +Before, however, that time came, a series of events having no connection +with these transactions had led to a change of ministry in England, and +the new cabinet was less inclined to carry matters with a high hand. +Indeed, even the boldest statesman could hardly have learned the state +of feeling which had been excited in America without apprehension, and +those who had the chief weight in the new administration were not men to +imperil the state by an insistance on abstract theories of right and +prerogative. Accordingly, when, after Lord Rockingham had become +Prime-minister, Parliament met in December, 1765, the royal speech +recommended the state of affairs in America to the consideration of +Parliament (a recommendation which manifestly implied a disposition on +the part of the King's advisers to induce the House of Commons to +retrace its steps), papers were laid before Parliament, and witnesses +from America were examined, and among them a man who had already won a +high reputation by his scientific acquirements, but who had not been +previously prominent as a politician, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He had come +over to England as agent for Pennsylvania, and his examination, as +preserved in the "Parliamentary History," may be taken as a complete +statement of the matter in dispute from the American point of view, and +of the justification which the Colonists conceived themselves to have +for refusing to submit to pay such a tax as had now been imposed upon +them. At a later day he was one of the most zealous, as he was probably +one of the earliest, advocates of separation from England; but as yet +neither his language nor his actions afforded any trace of such a +feeling. + +He affirmed[36] the general temper of the Colonists toward Great Britain +to have been, till this act was passed, the best in the world. They +considered themselves as a part of the British empire, and as having one +common interest with it. They did not consider themselves as foreigners. +They were jealous for the honor and prosperity of this nation, and +always were, and always would be, ready to support it as far as their +little power went. They considered the Parliament of Great Britain as +the great bulwark and security of their liberties and privileges, and +always spoke of it with the utmost respect and veneration. They had +given a practical proof of their goodwill by having raised, clothed, and +paid during the last war nearly 25,000 men, and spent many millions; nor +had any Assembly of any Colony ever refused duly to support the +government by proper allowances from time to time to public officers. +They had always been ready, and were ready now, to tax themselves. The +Colonies had Assemblies of their own, which were their Parliaments. They +were, in that respect, in the same situation as Ireland. Their +Assemblies had a right to levy money on the subject, then to grant to +the crown, and, indeed, had constantly done so; and he himself was +specially instructed by the Assembly of his own State to assure the +ministry that, as they always had done, so they should always think it +their duty to grant such aids to the crown as were suitable to their +circumstances and abilities, whenever called upon for the purpose in a +constitutional manner; and that instruction he had communicated to the +ministry. But the Colonies objected to Parliament laying on them such a +tax as that imposed by the Stamp Act. Some duties, they admitted, the +Parliament had a right to impose, but he drew a distinction between +"those duties which were meant to regulate commerce and internal taxes." +The authority of Parliament to regulate commerce had never been disputed +by the Colonists. The sea belonged to Britain. She maintained by her +fleets the safety of navigation on it; she kept it clear of pirates; she +might, therefore, have a natural and equitable right to some toll or +duty, on merchandise carried through that part of her dominions, toward +defraying the expenses she was at in ships to maintain the safety of +that carriage. But the case of imposition of internal taxes was wholly +different from this. The Colonists held that, by the charters which at +different times had been granted to the different States, they were +entitled to all the privileges and liberties of Englishmen. They found +in the Great Charters, and the Petition and Declarations of Right, that +one of the privileges of English subjects is that they are not to be +taxed but by their common consent; and these rights and privileges had +been confirmed by the charters which at different times had been granted +to the different States. In reply to a question put to him, he allowed +that in the Pennsylvania charter there was a clause by which the King +granted that he would levy no taxes on the inhabitants unless it were +with the consent of the Colonial Assembly, or by an act of Parliament; +words which certainly seemed to reserve a right of taxation to the +British Parliament; but he also demonstrated that, in point of fact, the +latter part of the clause had never been acted on, and the Colonists +had, therefore, relied on it, from the first settlement of the province, +that the Parliament never would nor could, by the color of that clause +in the charter, assume a right of taxing them till it had qualified +itself to exercise such right by admitting representatives from the +people to be taxed. And, in addition to objections on principle, he +urged some that he regarded as of great force as to the working of this +particular tax imposed by the Stamp Act. It was not an equal tax, as the +greater part of the revenue derived from it must arise from lawsuits for +the recovery of debts, and be paid by the lower sort of people; it was a +heavy tax on the poor, and a tax on them for being poor. In the back +settlements, where the population was very thin, the inhabitants would +often be unable to get stamps without taking a long journey for the +purpose. The scarcity of specie, too, in the country would cause the +pressure to be felt with great severity, as, in his opinion, there was +not gold and silver enough in the Colonies to pay the stamp-duty for a +single year. In reply to another question, whether the Colonists would +be satisfied with a repeal of the Stamp Act without a formal +renunciation of the abstract right of Parliament to impose it, he +replied that he believed they would be satisfied. He thought the +resolutions of right would give them very little concern, if they were +never attempted to be carried into practice. The Colonies would probably +consider themselves in the same situation in that respect as Ireland. +They knew that the English Parliament claimed the same right with regard +to Ireland, but that it never exercised it; and they might believe that +they would never exercise it in the Colonies any more than in Ireland. +Indeed, they would think that it never could exercise such a right till +representatives from the Colonies should be admitted into Parliament, +and that whenever an occasion arose to make Parliament regard the +taxation of the Colonies as indispensable, representatives would be +ordered. + +This last question put to the witness, like several others in the course +of his examination, had been framed with the express purpose of +eliciting an answer to justify the determination on the subject to which +Lord Rockingham and his colleagues had come. It could not be denied that +the government was placed in a situation of extreme difficulty-- +difficulty created, in part, by the conduct of the Colonists themselves. +That, as even their most uncompromising advocate, Mr. Pitt, admitted, +had been imprudent and intemperate, though it was the imprudence of men +who "had been driven to madness by injustice." On the one hand, to +repeal an act the opposition to which had been marked by fierce riots, +such as those of Boston, and even in the Assemblies of some of the +States by language scarcely short of treason,[37] seemed a concession to +intimidation scarcely compatible with the maintenance of the dignity of +the crown or the legitimate authority of Parliament. On the other hand, +to persist in the retention of a tax which the whole population affected +by it was evidently determined to resist to the uttermost, was to incur +the still greater danger of rebellion and civil war. In this dilemma, +the ministers resolved on a course calculated, as they conceived, to +avoid both evils, by combining a satisfaction of the complaints of the +Colonists with an assertion of the absolute supremacy of the British +crown and Parliament for every purpose. And on February 24, 1766, the +Secretary of State brought in a bill which, after declaring, in its +first clause, "that the King's Majesty, by and with the consent of the +Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons of Great Britain, in +Parliament assembled, had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power +and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity +to bind the Colonists and people of America, subjects of the crown of +Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever," proceeded to repeal the Stamp +Act, giving a strong proof of the sincerity of the desire to conciliate +the Colonists by the unusual step of fixing the second reading of the +bill for the next day. + +But in its different clauses it encountered a twofold opposition, which +he had, probably, not anticipated. It is unnecessary to notice that +which rested solely on the inexpediency of repealing the Stamp Act, "the +compulsory enforcement of which was required by the honor and dignity of +the kingdom." But the first clause was even more strenuously resisted, +on grounds which its opponents affirmed to rest on the fundamental +principles of the constitution. It was urged in the House of Commons by +Mr. Pitt that, "as the Colonies were not represented in Parliament, +Great Britain had no legal right nor power to lay a tax upon them--that +taxation is no part of the governing or legislative power. Taxes," said +the great orator, "are the voluntary gift and grant of the Commons +alone. In legislation the three estates of the realm are alike +concerned; but the concurrence of the peers and the crown to a tax is +only necessary to clothe it with the form of a law; the gift and grant +is in the Commons alone.... The distinction between legislation and +taxation is essentially necessary to liberty." + +Mr. Pitt had no claim to be considered as a great authority in the +principles of constitutional law. George II., slight as was his +political knowledge or wisdom, complained on one occasion of the +ignorance of a Secretary of State who had never read Vattel; and in this +very debate he even boasted of his ignorance of "law-cases and acts of +Parliament." But his coadjutor in the House of Lords (Lord Camden, at +this time Chief-justice of the Common Pleas) owed the chief part of the +respect in which he was held to his supposed excellence as a +constitutional lawyer, and he fully endorsed and expanded Pitt's +arguments when the bill came up to the House of Lords. He affirmed that +he spoke as "the defender of the law and the constitution; that, as the +affair was of the greatest consequence, and in its consequences might +involve the fate of kingdoms, he had taken the strictest review of his +arguments, he had examined and re-examined all his authorities; and that +his searches had more and more convinced him that the British Parliament +had no right to tax the Americans. The Stamp Act was absolutely illegal, +contrary to the fundamental laws of nature, contrary to the fundamental +laws of this constitution--a constitution governed on the eternal and +immutable laws of nature. The doctrine which he was asserting was not +new; it was as old as the constitution; it grew up with it; indeed, it +was its support. Taxation and representation are inseparably united. God +hath joined them; no British government can put them asunder. To +endeavor to do so is to stab our very vitals." And he objected to the +first clause (that which declared the power and right to tax), on the +ground that if the ministers "wantonly pressed this declaration, +although they were now repealing the Stamp Act, they might pass it again +in a month." He even argued that "they must have future taxation in +view, or they would hardly assert their right to enjoy the pleasure of +offering an insult." He was answered by Lord Northington (the +Chancellor) and by Lord Mansfield (the Chief-justice), both of whom +supported the motion to repeal the tax, but who also agreed in denying +the soundness of his doctrine that, as far as the power was concerned, +there was any distinction between a law to tax and a law for any other +purpose; and Lord Mansfield farther denied the validity of the argument +which it had been attempted to found on the circumstance that the +Colonies were not represented in Parliament, propounding, on the +contrary, what Lord Campbell calls "his doctrine of virtual +representation." "There can," said he, "be no doubt but that the +inhabitants of the Colonies are represented in Parliament, as the +greatest part of the people of England are represented, among nine +millions of whom there are eight who have no votes in electing members +of Parliament. Every objection, therefore, to the dependency of the +Colonies upon Parliament which arises upon the ground of representation +goes to the whole present constitution of Great Britain.... For what +purpose, then, are arguments drawn from a distinction in which there is +no real difference of a virtual and an actual representation? A member +of Parliament chosen for any borough represents not only the +constituents and inhabitants of that particular place, but he represents +the inhabitants of every other borough in Great Britain. He represents +the City of London and all the other Commons of the land, and the +inhabitants of all the colonies and dominions of Great Britain, and is +in duty and conscience bound to take care of their interests." + +Lord Mansfield's doctrine of a virtual representation of the Colonies +must be admitted to be overstrained. The analogy between the case of +colonists in a country from no part of which representatives are sent to +Parliament, and that of a borough or county where some classes of the +population which may, in a sense, be regarded as spokesmen or agents of +the rest form a constituency and return members, must be allowed to +fail; yet the last sentences of this extract are worth preserving, as +laying down the important constitutional principle, subsequently +expanded and enforced with irresistible learning and power of argument +by Burke, that a member of the House of Commons is not a delegate, +bound, under all circumstances, to follow the opinions or submit to the +dictation of his constituents, but that from the moment of his election +he is a councillor of the whole kingdom, bound to exercise an +independent judgment for the interests of the whole people, rather than +to guide himself by the capricious or partial judgments of a small +section of it. But in its more immediate objects--that of establishing +the two principles, that the constitution knows of no limitation to the +authority of Parliament, and of no distinction between the power of +taxation and that of any other kind of legislation--Lord Mansfield's +speech is now universally admitted to have been unanswerable.[38] + +The abstract right was unquestionably on the side of the minister and +the Parliament who had imposed the tax. But he is not worthy of the name +of statesman who conceives absolute rights and metaphysical distinctions +to be the proper foundation for measures of government, and pays no +regard to custom, to precedent, to the habits and feelings of the people +to be governed; who, disregarding the old and most true adage, _summum +jus summa injuria_, omits to take into his calculations the expediency +of his actions when legislating for a nation which he is in the daily +habit of weighing in his private affairs. The art or science of +government are phrases in common use; but they would be void of meaning +if all that is requisite be to ascertain the strict right or power, and +then unswervingly to act upon it in all its rigor. And, therefore, while +it must be admitted that the character of the power vested in King, +Lords, and Commons assembled in Parliament is unlimited and illimitable, +and that the legal competency to enact a statute depends in no degree +whatever on the wisdom or folly, the justice or wickedness, of the +statute, the advice given to a constitutional sovereign by his advisers +must be guided by other considerations. To quote by anticipation the +language addressed to the Commons on this subject by Burke eight years +afterward, the proper policy was "to leave the Americans as they +anciently stood ... To be content to bind America by laws of trade. +Parliament had always done it. And this should be the reason for binding +their trade. Not to burden them by taxes; Parliament was not used to do +so from the beginning; and this should be the reason for not taxing. +These are the arguments of states and kingdoms."[39] + +The ministry were strong enough to carry their resolutions through both +Houses. Their measure was divided into two acts, one known as the +Declaratory Act, asserting the absolute and universal authority of +Parliament; the other repealing the Stamp Act of the preceding year. And +both were passed without alteration, though the Lords divided against +them on both the second and third readings of the bill for repeal +founded on them,[40] some of them entering long protests in the journals +of the House. The right to tax was asserted, but the tax itself was +repealed. And Franklin's estimate of the feelings on the subject +entertained by his countrymen was fully verified by the reception which +the intelligence met with in the Colonies. To quote the description of +Lord Stanhope: "In America the repeal of the Stamp Act was received with +universal joy and acclamation. Fireworks and festivals celebrated the +good news, while addresses and thanks to the King were voted by all the +Assemblies.... The words of the Declaratory Act, indeed, gave the +Americans slight concern. They fully believed that no practical +grievance could arise from it. They looked upon it merely as a salve to +the wounded pride of England; as only that 'bridge of gold' which, +according to the old French saying, should always be allowed to a +retreating assailant."[41] + +A recent writer, however, has condemned the addition of the declaration +of the abstract right to tax with great vehemence. "Nothing," says Lord +Campbell,[42] "could exceed the folly of accompanying the repeal of the +Stamp Act with the statutable declaration of the abstract right to tax." +But it does not seem difficult to justify the conduct of the ministry in +this particular. For, besides the great weight deservedly attached to +Franklin's assurance that the declaration would not be objected to by +the Colonists, and besides the consideration that, on a general view, it +was desirable, if not indispensable, to impress on all classes of +subjects, whether at home or abroad, the constitutional doctrine of the +omnipotence of Parliament, the line of argument adopted by Mr. Pitt and +Lord Camden, in denying that omnipotence, left the ministers no +alternative but that of asserting it, unless they were prepared to +betray their trust as guardians of the constitution. Forbearance to +insist on the Declaratory Act could not fail to have been regarded as an +acquiescence on their part in a doctrine which Lord Campbell in the same +breath admits to be false. It may be added, as a consideration of no +small practical weight, that, without such a Declaratory Act, the King +would have been very reluctant to consent to the other and more +important Repealing Act. And, on the whole, the conduct of the ministry +may, we think, be regarded as the wisest settlement both of the law and +of the practice. It asserted the law in a manner which offended no one; +and it made a precedent for placing the spirit of statesmanship above +the letter of the law, and for forbearing to put forth in its full +strength the prerogatives whose character was not fully understood by +those who might be affected by them, and also could plead that +Parliament itself had contributed to lead them to misunderstand it by +its own conduct in never before exerting it. + +For the moment, then, contentment and tranquillity were restored in the +Colonies. Unhappily, they were not lasting. The same year which saw the +triumph of the Rockingham administration in the repeal of the Stamp Act, +witnessed also its fall before a discreditable intrigue. And the +ministry which succeeded it had not been a year in office before the new +Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townsend, revived the discontents +in America which Lord Rockingham had appeased. It cannot be said, +however, that the blame should all belong to him; or that the Rockingham +party in the House of Commons were entirely free from a share in it. +They were--not unnaturally, perhaps--greatly irritated at the intrigue +by which Lord Chatham had superseded them, and were not disinclined to +throw difficulties in the way of their successors, for which the events +of the next year afforded more than one opportunity. Lord Chatham, as +has been mentioned, was universally recognized as the chief of the new +ministry, though he abstained from taking the usual office of First Lord +of the Treasury, and contented himself with the Privy Seal; but he had +constructed it of such discordant elements[43] that no influence but his +own could preserve consistency in its acts or harmony among its members, +as nothing but his name could give it consideration either in Parliament +or in the country. In the first months of the next year, 1767, he was +attacked with an illness which for a time disabled him from attending +the cabinet, being, apparently, the forerunner of that more serious +malady which, before the end of the summer, compelled his long +retirement from public life; and the Opposition took advantage of the +state of disorganization and weakness which his illness caused among his +colleagues, to defeat them on the Budget in the House of Commons, by an +amendment to reduce the land-tax, which caused a deficiency in the +supplies of half a million. This deficiency it, of course, became +necessary to meet by some fresh tax; and Townsend--who, though endowed +with great richness of eloquence, was of an imprudent, not to say rash, +temper, and was possessed of too thorough a confidence in his own +ingenuity and fertility of resource ever to be inclined to take into +consideration any objections to which his schemes might be +liable--proposed to raise a portion of the money which was needed by +taxes on glass, paper, tea, and one or two other articles, to be paid as +import duties in the American Colonies. His colleagues, and especially +the Duke of Grafton himself, the First Lord of the Treasury, and as such +the nominal Prime-minister, having been also, as Secretary of State, a +member of Lord Rockingham's ministry, which had repealed the former +taxes, did not consent to the measure without great and avowed +reluctance; but yielded their own judgment to the strong feeling in its +favor which notoriously existed in the House of Commons.[44] Indeed, +that House passed the clauses imposing these import duties without +hesitation, being, probably, influenced in no small degree by the +evidence given in the preceding year by Dr. Franklin, who, as has been +already seen, had explained that the Colonists drew a distinction +between what he called "internal taxes" and import duties "intended to +regulate commerce," and that to the latter class they were not inclined +to object. And a second consideration was, that these new duties were +accompanied and counterbalanced by a reduction of some other taxes; so +that the ministry contended that the effect of these financial measures, +taken altogether, would be to lower to the Colonists the price of the +articles affected by them rather than to raise it. But one of the +resolutions adopted provided that the whole of the money to be raised +from these taxes should not be spent in America, but that, after making +provision for certain Colonial objects specified, "the residue of such +duties should be paid into the receipt of his Majesty's Exchequer, and +there reserved, to be from time to time disposed of by Parliament toward +defraying the necessary expenses of defending, protecting, and securing +the said Colonies and plantations." And this clause seems to have been +understood as designed to provide means for augmenting the number of +regular troops to be maintained in the Colonies, whose employment in the +recent disturbances had made them more unpopular than formerly.[45] + +At all events, the intelligence of these new taxes, though only import +duties, found the Colonists in a humor to resist any addition of any +kind to their financial burdens. The events of the last two years had +taught them their strength. It was undeniable that the repeal of the +Stamp Act had been extorted by the riots in Boston and other places, and +the success of this system of intimidation could not fail to encourage +its repetition. Accordingly, the news of this fresh attempt at taxation +was met by a unanimous determination to resist it. Newspaper writers and +pamphleteers denounced not only the duties but the ministry which +imposed them. Petitions from almost every State were sent over to +England, addressed to the King and to the Parliament; but the violent +temper of the leaders of the populace was not content to wait for +answers to them. Associations were at once formed in Boston and one or +two other cities, where resolutions were adopted in the spirit of +retaliation (as their framers avowed), to desist from the importation of +any articles of British commerce, and to rely for the future on American +manufactures. The principal Custom-house officers at Boston were badly +beaten, and others were compelled to seek refuge in a man-of-war which +happened to be in the harbor. + +It would be painful, and at the present day useless, to trace the steps +by which these local disturbances gradually grew into one general +insurrection. The spirit of resistance was undoubtedly fanned by a party +which from the first contemplated a total separation from England as its +ultimate result,[46] if, indeed, they had not conceived the design even +before Grenville had given the first provocation to discontent. But the +Colonists were not without advocates in England, even among the members +of the government. The Duke of Grafton, while he remained +Prime-minister, was eager to withdraw all the duties of which they +complained; but he was overruled by the majority of his colleagues. He +prevailed, however, so far that Lord Hillsborough, the Secretary of +State, was authorized to write a circular-letter to the governors of the +different provinces, in which he disowned, in the most distinct language +possible, "a design to propose to Parliament to lay any farther taxes +upon America for the purpose of raising a revenue," and promised for the +next session a repeal of all the taxes except that on tea; and when the +Duke retired from the Treasury, and was succeeded by Lord North, that +statesman himself brought forward the promised repeal in an elaborate +speech,[47] in which he explained that the duty on tea, which he alone +proposed to retain, had been originally a boon to the Americans rather +than an injury, as being accompanied by the removal of a far heavier +tax. But he admitted that even that consideration was not the one which +influenced him in his opinion that that duty should be maintained, so +greatly was the perception that the real object of those who complained +of it was, not the redress of a grievance, but the extinction of a right +which was an essential part of "the controlling supremacy of England." +The fact that the right to tax had been denied made it a positive duty +on the part of the English minister to exert that right. "To temporize +would be to yield, and the authority of the mother country, if now +unsupported, would be relinquished forever." And he avowed his idea of +the policy proper to be pursued to be "to retain the right of taxing +America, but to give it every relief that might be consistent with the +welfare of the mother country." He carried his resolution, though the +minority--which on this occasion was led by Mr. Pownall, who had himself +been Governor of Massachusetts, and who moved an amendment to include +tea in the list of taxes proposed to be repealed--was stronger than +usual.[48] But the concession failed to conciliate a single Colonist; it +had become, as Burke said four years afterward, a matter of feeling,[49] +and the irritation fed on itself, till, in 1773, a fresh act, empowering +the East India Company to export tea to the Colonies direct from their +own warehouses without its being subject to any duty in England--which +Lord North undoubtedly intended as a boon to the Colonists--only +increased the exasperation. The ships which brought the tea to Boston +were boarded and seized by a formidable body of rioters disguised as +native savages, and the tea was thrown into the sea. The intelligence +was received in England with very different feelings by the different +parties in the state. The ministers conceived themselves forced to +assert the dignity of the crown, and proposed bills to inflict severe +punishment on both the City of Boston and the whole Province of +Massachusetts. The Opposition insisted on removing the cause of these +disturbances by a total repeal of the tea-duty. The minister prevailed +by a far larger majority than before, but his success only increased the +exasperation in the Colonies; and it was an evil omen for peace that the +leaders of the resistance began to search the records of the English +Long Parliament "for the revolutionary precedents and forms of the +Puritans of that day."[50] The next year saw fresh attempts to procure +the repeal of the obnoxious tax rejected by the House of Commons; but, +before the news of this division reached America, blood had already been +shed.[51] Civil war began. The next year the Colonies, now united in one +solid body, asserted their Independence, taking the title of the United +States; and, though the government at home made more than one effort to +recall the Colonists to their allegiance, and sent out commissioners of +high rank, with large powers of concession; and though in one remarkable +instance the mission of Mr. Penn, in the summer of 1775, with the +petition to the King known as "the Olive Branch," seemed to show a +desire for a maintenance of the union on the part of the Colonial +Congress,[52] from the moment that the sword was drawn all hope of +preserving the connection of the Colonies must have been seen by all +reasonable men to be at an end. + +It is beside our present purpose to recapitulate the military operations +of the war, though they verified another of Burke's warnings, that, +supposing all moral difficulties to be got over, the ocean +remained--that could not be dried up; and, as long as it continued in +its present bed, so long all the causes which weakened authority by +distance must continue. In fact, distance from England was one of the +main circumstances which decided the contest. The slowness of +communication--almost inconceivable to the present generation--rendered +impossible that regularity in the transport of re-enforcements and +supplies which was indispensable to success; and, added to the strange +absence of military skill shown by every one of the British generals, +soon placed the eventual issue of the war beyond a doubt. But one +measure by which Lord North's government endeavored to provide for the +strengthening of the army employed in America was so warmly challenged +on constitutional grounds, that, though the fortunate separation of +Hanover from Great Britain has prevented the possibility of any +recurrence of such a proceeding, it would be improper to pass it over. + +In his speech at the opening of the autumnal session of 1775, the King +announced to the Houses that, in order to leave a larger portion of the +established forces of the kingdom available for service in North +America, he "had sent a part of his Electoral troops to the garrisons of +Gibraltar and Port Mahon." And the announcement aroused a vehement +spirit of opposition, which found vent in the debates of both Houses on +the address, and in two substantive motions condemning the measure as a +violation of the constitution as established by the Bill of Rights and +the Act of Settlement. It was strenuously maintained that both these +statutes forbade the raising or keeping on foot a standing army in the +kingdom in time of peace, and also the introduction of foreign troops +into this kingdom, without the previous consent of Parliament, on any +pretence whatever; and that "the fact that Gibraltar and Minorca were +detached from these islands did not exclude them from the character of +forming a part of the British dominion." And on these grounds Lord +Shelburne, who supported Lord Rockingham on an amendment to the address, +did not hesitate to denounce this employment of the Hanoverian +regiments, as "fundamentally infringing the first principles of our +government," and to declare it "high-treason against the constitution." +He asked, "if there were a settled plan to subdue the liberties of this +country, what surer means could be adopted than those of arming Roman +Catholics and introducing foreign troops?"[53] and compared the measure +under discussion to the case of the Dutch regiments of William III., +"which the Parliament wisely refused to allow him to retain." In the +House of Commons, the Opposition was led by Sir James Lowther and +Governor Johnstone, the latter of whom "appealed to the clause in the +Act of Settlement which enacted that no person born of other than +English parents should enjoy any office or place of trust, civil or +military, within the kingdom;" and argued that to employ foreign +officers in the protection of a British fortress was to place them in an +"office of great military trust." + +The discussion brought to light strange divisions and weakness in the +ministry. The ministerial lawyers differed on the grounds on which they +relied, the Attorney-general, Thurlow, denying that the expression "this +kingdom" in the Bill of Rights included the foreign dependencies of the +crown[54] (a narrowing of its force which the Chancellor, Lord Bathurst, +wholly repudiated), while the argument on which he himself insisted most +strongly, that the existence of rebellion in America put end to all +conditions which supposed the kingdom to be at peace, could not obtain +the support of any one of his colleagues. But a plea urged by an +independent member, Lord Denbigh, was regarded by some of the speakers +with greater favor; his contention being that neither the Bill of Rights +nor the Act of Settlement had been violated, since both those great +statutes must be interpreted with reference to the time at which they +were framed, and to the recent acts of James II. and William III., the +recurrence of which they had been designed to prevent, acts to which the +present proceeding bore no resemblance. + +A stronger justification, however, might have been found in very recent +precedents. In 1745 the ministers had brought over six thousand Dutch +troops to re-enforce the army of the Duke of Cumberland, and their act +had been subsequently approved by Parliament. And in 1756, at the +commencement of the seven years' war, when the loss of Minorca had led +to such a distrust of our fleets that a French invasion was very +generally apprehended, both Houses presented addresses to George II., +begging him to bring over some Hanoverian regiments; and, in the course +of the next year, other addresses to thank him for compliance with their +entreaty. + +Looking at the strict law of the question, few lawyers doubt that the +expression "this kingdom" in the Bill of Rights includes the entire +dominions of the crown, or that that great statute was undoubtedly +intended to protect the privileges of all their inhabitants, whether +within the four seas or in foreign settlements. But it also seems that +the clause against raising and keeping on foot a standing army without +the consent of Parliament was not more violated by keeping a mixed +garrison in Gibraltar and Port Mahon than garrisons consisting of native +soldiers only; and undoubtedly the keeping of an armed force in both +these fortresses had been sanctioned by Parliament. Nor could the +colonel of a foreign regiment in garrison under the command of a British +governor be fairly said to be in an office of great military trust. So +far, therefore, the charge against the ministry may be thought to have +failed. But the accusation of having transgressed the clause which +prohibits "the introduction of foreign troops into this kingdom without +the previous consent of Parliament on any pretence whatever," must, on +the other hand, be regarded as proved. And, indeed, Lord North himself +may be taken to have shown some consciousness that it was so, since he +justified his conduct in omitting to procure that previous consent by +the necessity of the case, by the plea that, as Parliament was in +vacation, the time which would have been consumed in waiting for its +sanction would have neutralized the advantage desired from the +employment of the Hanoverians, since the regiments which they were to +replace at Gibraltar and Port Mahon could not, after such delay, have +reached America in time to be of service; and since he also consented +eventually to ask Parliament for an Act of Indemnity, the preamble of +which affirmed the existence of doubts as to the legality of the step +which had been taken. And the fate of this act afforded a still more +striking proof of the divisions in the ministry, since, after Lord North +himself had proposed it in the House of Commons, and it had been passed +there by a large majority, it was rejected in the House of Lords, where +his own colleagues, Lord Gower, Lord Suffolk, and Lord Weymouth, spoke +and voted against it as needless, because, in their judgment, no doubt +of the state of the law on the subject could exist. + +From a statesman-like point of view, the employment of the Hanoverians +seems abundantly defensible, if force were still to be employed to bring +back the Colonists to their obedience. The circumstance of their being +subjects of our sovereign in his other character of Elector of Hanover, +clearly distinguished it from the hiring of the Hessian and Brunswick +mercenaries, which has been deservedly condemned. And, as the entire +number fell short of two thousand,[55] Lord Shelburne's expression of +fear for the liberties and religion of Englishmen was an absurd +exaggeration. Moreover, the warm approval which, less than twenty years +before, Parliament had given to the introduction of a far larger body of +the same troops into England itself, justified the anticipation that a +similar sanction would now be cheerfully given. That sanction--which, +indeed, might have been thought to be invited by the announcement of the +measure in the King's speech--was undoubtedly requisite. And, if it was, +a Bill of Indemnity for having acted without it was equally necessary. +But, as has been seen in the last chapter, for an administration, on +urgent occasions, to take action on its own responsibility, and then to +apply for indemnity, is a course in strict harmony with the practice of +the constitution; and if in this instance the ministers are in any +respect blamable, their error would seem to have been limited to their +abstaining from instantly calling Parliament together to sanction their +act, and being contented to wait for the ordinary time of the Houses +meeting. + +The war, therefore, went on. The assertion of their independence by the +Colonies divided, and, so far, weakened, the advocates of their cause in +Parliament, one section of whom, led by Lord Chatham, regarded any +diminution of our dominion as not only treasonable, but ruinous; on the +other hand, it procured them the alliance of France and Spain. But it +cannot be said that either of these incidents produced any practical +effect on the result of the war. Lord Chatham's refusal to contemplate +their independence could not retard its establishment; and the alliance +of France and Spain, which brought nothing but disaster to those +countries, could not accelerate it by a single moment. For nearly six +years the war continued with alternations of success, the victories +gained by the British arms being the more numerous, the triumphs of the +Americans being incomparably the more important, involving as they did +the surrender of two entire armies, the latter of which, that of Lord +Cornwallis, in 1781, did, in fact, terminate the war, and with the war +the existence of the ministry which had conducted it. A singularly rapid +succession of new administrations ensued--so rapid that the negotiations +for peace which the first, that of Lord Rockingham, opened, were not +formally completed till the third,[56] known as the Coalition Ministry, +was on the point of dismissal. It would be beside our purpose to enter +into the details of the treaty which constituted the United States, as +they were now called, a nation by our formal recognition of their +independence. Even in that recognition, which was the most important +article of the treaty, no constitutional principle was involved, though +it affords the only instance in our history which can seem to throw a +doubt on our inheritance of that capacity for government which the Roman +poet claimed as, in ancient times, the peculiar attribute of his own +countrymen. It presents the only instance of a loss of territory peopled +by men who came of our blood, and who still spoke our language. It was a +stern and severe lesson; and yet, fraught with discredit and disaster as +it was, it nevertheless bore fruit in a later age which we may be +excused for regarding as an example of the generally predominating +influence of sober practical sense in our countrymen, when not led away +by the temporary excitement of passion, as shown in our capacity to take +home to ourselves and profit by the teachings of experience. The loss of +the American Colonies was caused by the submission of the Parliament and +nation to men of theory rather than of practice; ideologists, as +Napoleon called them; doctrinaires, to use the modern expression; men +who, because Parliament had an abstract right of universal legislation, +regarded it as a full justification for insisting on its exercise, +without giving a thought to the feelings, or prejudices, or habits of +those who might be affected by their measures. Abstractedly considered, +Lord Chatham and Lord Camden were undoubtedly wrong in denying the power +of Parliament to tax the Colonies; but there was better judgment in +their counsels, though founded on false premises, than in those of +Grenville and Townsend, though theirs was the more correct view of the +constitutional power of legislation. The two peers were wrong in their +principle; the two Chancellors of the Exchequer were unwise in their +application of their principle; and the practical error was the more +disastrous one. + +It is now generally admitted that the true statesman-like course toward +the Colonies was that adopted by Lord Rockingham and his colleagues in +1765--to avoid weakening the supreme power of Parliament by any +disavowal of the right to tax but to avoid imperilling the sovereign +authority of the King by a novel exertion of it. As much of our common +English law is made up of precedent, so, in a still greater degree, are +our feelings and ideas of our rights and privileges regulated by +precedent. And we lost America because in 1764 and 1767 neither minister +nor Parliament took men's feelings and prejudices into account. The loss +of the United States, therefore, was a lesson not undeserved; and by our +statesmen since that day it has been taken in the right spirit of +profiting by its teaching as a guide to their own conduct. Since that +day the enterprise of our people has planted our flag in regions far +more distant, and has extended the dominion of our sovereign over +provinces far more extensive than those which we then lost. And on some +of the administrations of the present reign the duty has fallen of +framing schemes of government for those new acquisitions, as also for +some of those previously possessed. In how different a spirit from that +which actuated the early ministers of George III.[57] those to whom the +task was committed by Queen Victoria applied themselves to their task +may be seen in a maxim laid down by the present Lord Grey, when he +presided at the Colonial Office (1846-1852), that "the success of free +institutions in any country depends far less upon the particular form of +those institutions than upon the character of the people on whom they +are conferred." But how he and others in the same office carried out +that principle must be reserved for a later chapter. + +Besides the numerous motions which were brought forward by the +Opposition respecting the continuance and conduct of the war, there were +several also which were indirectly prompted by it. The Opposition +claimed to be on this subject not only the champions of the real +interests of the nation, but also its spokesmen, who expressed the +opinions and feelings of all the thinking and independent portion of the +people. That their efforts were overborne they attributed to the +subservience of the Parliament to the ministers, and of the ministers to +the crown.[58] And consequently several motions were made by members of +that party, the object of which was, in one way or another, to diminish +what they regarded as the undue influence of the crown. In one instance, +and that the most successful, a direct denunciation of that influence +was employed, but the earlier and more frequent proposals were directed +to the purification of the House of Commons, and to the strengthening of +its independence. It is remarkable that of these the two which related +to a subject of which the Commons are usually most especially and most +rightly jealous, the interference of peers in elections, had the worst +fortune. In 1780 complaints were made and substantiated that the Duke of +Bolton and the Duke of Chandos (who was also Lord-lieutenant of the +county) had exerted themselves actively in the last election for +Hampshire. And, in support of motions that these peers "had been guilty +of a breach of the privileges of the House, and an infringement of the +liberties and privileges of the Commons of Great Britain," a case was +adduced in which Queen Anne had dismissed the Bishop of Worcester from +the office of Almoner for similar interference. Nor did Lord Nugent, a +relative of the Duke of Chandos, deny the facts alleged; on the +contrary, he avowed them, and adopted a line of defence which many must +have thought an aggravation of the charge, since it asserted that to +prevent such interference was impossible, and therefore the House would +but waste its time in trying. However, on this occasion the House took +the view which he thus suggested to it, postponing all farther +consideration of the matter for four months; and the charge the Duke of +Bolton was shelved in a somewhat similar manner. + +Even had these peers and such practices been censured with the very +greatest severity, the censures could have had but a very limited +effect. But it was on measures of a wider scope, embracing what began to +be called a Reform of Parliament, that the more zealous members of the +Opposition placed their chief reliance. As far as our records of the +debates can be trusted, Lord Chatham, ten years before, had given the +first hint of the desirableness of some alteration of the existing +system. On one occasion he denounced the small boroughs as "the rotten +part of the constitution," thus originating the epithet by which they in +time came to be generally described; but more usually he disavowed all +idea of disfranchising them, propounding rather a scheme for diminishing +their importance by a large addition to the county members. However, he +never took any steps to carry out his views, thinking, perhaps, that it +was not in the Upper House that such a subject should be first broached. +But he had not been long in the grave, when a formal motion for a reform +of a different kind was brought forward by one of the members for the +City of London, Alderman Sawbridge,[59] who, in May, 1780, applied for +leave to bring in "a bill for shortening the duration of Parliaments." +His own preference he avowed to be for annual Parliaments; but his +suspicion that the House would think such a measure too sweeping had +induced him to resolve to content himself with aiming at triennial +Parliaments. As leave was refused, the bill proposed to be introduced +may, perhaps, be thought disentitled to mention here, were it not that +the circumstance that proposals for shortening the duration of +Parliaments are still occasionally brought forward seems to warrant an +account of a few of the arguments by which those who took the leading +parts in the debate which ensued resisted it. The minister, Lord North, +declared that the Alderman had misunderstood the views of our ancestors +on the subject; as their desire had been, not that Parliament should be +elected annually, but that it should sit every year, an end which had +now been attained. Fox, on the other hand, while avowing that hitherto +he had always opposed similar motions, declared his wish now to see not +only triennial but annual Parliaments, as the sole means of lessening +the influence of the crown. "If any of his constituents were to ask him +to what our present misfortunes were ascribable, he should say the first +cause was the influence of the crown; the second, the influence of the +crown; and the third, the influence of the crown." But it was replied by +Burke, who usually exhausted every question he took in hand, that such a +bill would rather tend to augment that influence, since "the crown, by +its constant stated power, influence, and revenue, would be able to wear +out all opposition at elections; that it would not abate the interest or +inclination of ministers to apply that interest to the electors; on the +contrary, it would render it more necessary to them, if they desired to +have a majority in Parliament, to increase the means of that influence, +to redouble their diligence, and to sharpen dexterity in the +application. The whole effect of the bill would, therefore, be to remove +the application of some part of that influence from the elected to the +electors, and farther to strengthen and extend a court interest already +great and powerful in boroughs. It must greatly increase the cost of a +seat in Parliament; and, if contests were frequent, to many they would +become a matter of expense totally ruinous, which no fortunes could +bear. The expense of the last general election was estimated at +L1,500,000; and he remembered well that several agents for boroughs said +to candidates, 'Sir, your election will cost you L3000 if you are +independent; but, if the ministry supports you, it may be done for +L2000, and even less.'" And he adduced the case of Ireland, where +formerly, when "a Parliament sat for the King's life, the ordinary +charge for a seat was L1500; but now, when it sat for eight years, four +sessions, the charge was L2500 and upward." Such a change as was +proposed would cause "triennial corruption, triennial drunkenness, +triennial idleness, etc., and invigorate personal hatreds that would +never be allowed to soften. It would even make the member himself more +corrupt, by increasing his dependence on those who could best support +him at elections. It would wreck the fortunes of those who stood on +their own private means. It would make the electors more venal, and +injure the whole body of the people who, whether they have votes or not, +are concerned in elections." Finally, it would greatly impair the proper +authority of the House itself. "It would deprive it of all power and +dignity; and a House of Commons without power and without dignity, +either in itself or its members, is no House of Commons for this +constitution." + +The applicability of some of his arguments--those founded on the +disorders at times of election--has been greatly diminished, if not +destroyed, at the present day, by the limitation of the polling to a +single day. The disfranchisement of the smaller boroughs has neutralized +others; but the expense of a general election is not believed to have +diminished, and that alone seems a strong objection to a system which +would render them more frequent than they are at present. Mr. Sawbridge +could not obtain the support of a third of his hearers.[60] But his +notions had partisans in the other House who were not discouraged by +such a division; and three weeks later the Duke of Richmond brought +forward a Reform Bill on so large a scale that, as the "Parliamentary +History" records, "it took him an hour and a half to read it," and which +contained provisions for annual Parliaments and universal suffrage. But +he met with even less favor than the Alderman, and his bill was rejected +without a division. + +Still the subject was not allowed to rest. Even after Lord North had +been replaced by Lord Rockingham, the demand for Parliamentary Reform +was continued; the young Mr. Pitt making himself the mouth-piece of the +Reformers, and founding a motion which he made in May, 1782, on "the +corrupt influence of the crown; an influence which has been pointed at +in every period as the fertile source of all our miseries; an influence +which has been substituted in the room of wisdom, of activity, of +exertion, and of success; an influence which has grown up with our +growth and strengthened with our strength, but which, unhappily, has not +diminished with our diminution, nor decayed with our decay." He brought +forward no specific plan, but denounced the close boroughs, and asked +emphatically whether it were "representation" for "some decayed +villages, almost destitute of population, to send members to Parliament +under the control of the Treasury, or at the bidding of some great lord +or commoner." He, however, was defeated, though by the small majority of +twenty. And it is remarkable that when, the next year, he revived the +subject, developing a more precise scheme--akin to that which his father +had suggested, of increasing the number of county members, and including +provisions for the disfranchisement of boroughs which had been convicted +of systematic corruption--he was beaten by a far larger majority,[61] +the distinctness of his plan only serving to increase the numbers of his +adversaries. A kinsman of Pitt's, Lord Mahon, made an equally futile +attempt to diminish the expenses of elections, partly by inflicting very +heavy penalties on parties guilty of either giving or receiving +bribes,[62] and partly by prohibiting candidates from providing +conveyances for electors; and more than one bill for disfranchising +revenue-officers, as being specially liable to pressure from the +government, and to prevent contractors from sitting in Parliament, was +brought forward, but was lost, the smallness of the divisions in their +favor being not the least remarkable circumstance in the early history +of Reform. It was made still more evident that as yet the zeal for +Reform was confined to a few, when, two years afterward, Pitt, though +now invested with all the power of a Prime-minister, was as unable as +when in opposition to carry a Reform Bill, which in more than one point +foreshadowed the measure of 1832; proposing, as it did, the +disfranchisement of thirty-six small boroughs, which were to be +purchased of their proprietors nearly on the principle adopted in the +Irish Union Act, and on the other hand the enfranchisement of +copyholders; but it differed from Lord Grey's act in that it distributed +all the seats thus to be obtained among the counties, with the exception +of a small addition to the representatives of London and Westminster. +However, his supporters very little exceeded the number who had divided +with him in 1783, and Lord North, who led the Opposition in a speech +denouncing any change, had a majority of seventy-four. After this second +defeat, Pitt abandoned the question, at all events for the time; being +convinced, to quote Earl Stanhope's description of his opinion on the +subject, "that nothing but the pressure of the strongest popular +feeling, such as did not then exist, could induce many members to vote +against their own tenure of Parliament, or in fact against +themselves."[63] What, perhaps, weighed with him more, on deciding to +acquiesce in this vote as final, was the perception that as yet the +question excited no strong interest out-of-doors; and when, a few years +later, some who sought to become leaders of the people endeavored to +raise an agitation on the subject, their teachings were too deeply +infected with the contagion of the French Revolution to allow a wise +ruler to think it consistent with his duty to meet them with anything +but the most resolute discouragement. + +But, concurrently with the first of these motions for Parliamentary +Reform, two more direct attacks on the royal influence, and on what was +alleged to be the undue exertion of it, were made in the session of +1780. The first was made by Burke, who brought forward a measure of +economical reform, demonstrating, in a speech of extraordinary power, a +vast mass of abuses, arising from corrupt waste in almost every +department of the state, and in every department of the royal household, +without exception, and proposing a most extensive plan of reform, which +dealt with royal dignities, such as the Duchy of Lancaster and the other +principalities annexed to the crown; with the crown-lands, a great +portion of which he proposed to sell; with the offices of the royal +household, a sufficient specimen of the abuses on which was furnished by +the statement, that the turnspit in the King's kitchen was a member of +Parliament; and with many departments of state, such as the Board of +Works and the Pay-office, etc. He was studiously cautious in his +language, urging, indeed, that his scheme of reform would "extinguish +secret corruption almost to the possibility of its existence, and would +destroy direct and visible influence equal to the offices of at least +fifty members of Parliament," but carefully guarding against any +expressions imputing this secret corruption, this influence which it was +so desirable to destroy, to the crown. But his supporters were less +moderate; and Mr. Thomas Townsend declared that facts which he mentioned +"contained the most unquestionable presumptive evidence of the influence +of the crown; he meant the diverting of its revenues to purposes which +dared not be avowed, in corrupting and influencing the members of both +Houses of Parliament;" and he asserted that "the principle and objects +of the bill were the reduction of the influence of the crown." The bill +was not opposed by the ministers on its principle; but Lord North, even +while consenting to its introduction, "did not pledge himself not to +oppose it in some or other of its subsequent stages;" and, in fact, his +supporters resisted it in almost every detail, some of them utterly +denying the right of the House to interfere at all with the expenditure +of the civil list; others contesting the propriety of alienating the +crown-lands; and a still greater number objecting to the abolition of +some of the offices which it was proposed to sweep away, such as that of +the "third Secretary of State, or Secretary for the Colonies," that of +"Treasurer of the Chamber," and others of a similar character. And, as +the minister succeeded in defeating him on several, though by no means +all, of these points, Burke at last gave up the bill, Fox warning the +House at the same time that it should be renewed session after session, +and boasting that even the scanty success which it had met with had been +worth the struggle. + +The other direct attack was made by Mr. Dunning, who, perhaps, did not +then foresee that he himself was destined soon to fill one of the +offices which had come under the lash of Burke's sarcasm, and who a few +days afterward, in moving that it was necessary to declare "that the +influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be +diminished" rested no small portion of his argument on the treatment +that Burke's bill had received. He affirmed that, though Lord North had +declared that "the influence of the crown was not too great," the +divisions on that bill, and on many other measures which had been under +discussion, were irrefragable proofs of the contrary. He quoted Hume and +Judge Blackstone as testifying to the existence and steady increase of +that influence, and "could affirm of his own knowledge, and pledge his +honor to the truth of the assertion, that he knew upward of fifty +members in that House who always voted in the train of the noble lord in +the blue ribbon,[64] but who reprobated and condemned, out of the House, +the measures they had supported and voted for in it." Mr. T. Pitt even +instanced "the present possession of office by Lord North as an +indubitable proof of the enormous influence of the crown." + +It was not strange that Lord North opposed a resolution supported by +such arguments with all the power of the government, basing his own +opposition chiefly on the wisdom "of maintaining the rule long since +established by Parliament, never to vote abstract propositions." But he +presently saw that he was in a minority, and was forced to be content +with adopting and carrying an amendment of Mr. Dundas, one of the +members for Edinburgh, who flattered himself that by the insertion of +_now_ he converted a general assertion into a temporary declaration, +which might at a future time be disavowed as no longer applicable. A +majority of eighteen[65] affirmed the resolution; and when the mover +followed it up by a second, declaring that "it is competent to this +House to examine into and to correct abuses in the expenditure of the +civil list revenues, as well as in every other branch of the public +revenue, whenever it shall seem expedient to the wisdom of this House to +do so," though the minister, with what was almost an appeal _ad +misericordiam_, "implored the House not to proceed," he did not venture +to take a division, and that resolution also, with one or two others +designed to give instant effect to them, were adopted and reported by +the committee to the House in a single evening.[66] The first resolution +did, in fact, embody a complaint, or at least an assertion, which the +Rockingham party had constantly made ever since the close of the +Marquis's first administration. In a speech which he had made only a few +weeks before,[67] Lord Rockingham himself had declared that "it was +early in the present reign promulgated as a court axiom that the power +and influence of the crown alone was sufficient to support any set of +men his Majesty might think proper to call to his councils." And Burke, +in his "short account" of his administration of 1765, had not only +imputed both its formation and its dismissal to the "express request" +and "express command of their royal master," but in the sentence, "they +discountenanced and, it is to be hoped, forever abolished, the dangerous +and unconstitutional practice of removing military officers for their +votes in Parliament," condemned with unmistakable plainness some acts of +the preceding ministry which were universally understood to have been +forced upon it by the King himself. General Conway had been deprived of +the colonelcy of his regiment; Lord Rockingham himself, with several +other peers, had been dismissed from Lord-lieutenancies, as a punishment +for voting against the ministry; such dismissals being a flagrant +attempt to put down all freedom of debate in Parliament, which of all +its privileges is the one most essential to its usefulness, if not to +its very existence. But, as Burke said, the practice had been abandoned, +and the first resolution, therefore, as Lord North said, involved no +practical result. It is the second resolution that confers a +constitutional character and importance on this debate. And it is not +too much to say that no vote of greater value had been come to for many +years. It might have been considered almost as the assertion of a truism +included in the power of granting supplies, to declare that the +Parliament has the right and authority to examine into and correct +abuses in the expenditure, if it had not been denied by more than one +speaker on the ministerial side, though not by the Prime-minister +himself. But that denial made the assertion of the right an imperative +duty; for certainly the exclusive right of authorizing a levy of money +would lose half its value, if unaccompanied by the other right of +preventing the waste of the revenue thus raised. + +It may likewise be said that another principle of the parliamentary +constitution is, by implication, contained in Mr. Dunning's second +resolution, and that the words, "it is competent to this House to +examine into and to correct abuses in the expenditure," were meant to +imply a denial of the competency of the other House to institute, or +even to share in, such an examination. Even if that were the object of +its framer, it only coincided with the view of the peers themselves, a +very considerable majority[68] of whom had, a few weeks before, rejected +a motion made by Lord Shelburne for the appointment of "a committee of +members of both Houses to examine without delay into the public +expenditure," principally on the ground urged by the Secretary of State, +Lord Stormont, and by several other peers, that "to inquire into, +reform, and control the public expenditure" would be an improper +interference with the privileges of the Commons; the Chief-justice, Lord +Mansfield, even going the length of warning his brother peers that such +interference might probably lead the Commons "to dispute in their turn +the power of judicature in the last resort exercised by the peers." Lord +Camden, on the contrary, affirmed, as a proposition which "no noble lord +present would deny, that that House had a right to inquire so far as the +disposal of public moneys came under their cognizance as a deliberative +body." And in the Lower House itself, Burke, in his speech in favor of +his Bill for Economical Reform, went even farther than Lord Camden, and +blamed the House of Lords for rejecting Lord Shelburne's motion on such +a ground. "They had gone," he said, "farther in self-denial than the +utmost jealousy of the Commons could have required. A power of examining +accounts, of censuring, correcting, and punishing the Commons had never, +that he knew of, thought of denying to the Lords. It was something more +than a century ago that the Commons had voted the Lords a useless body. +They had now voted themselves so." And it would seem that the Lords +themselves, to a certain extent, retracted this, their self-denying +vote, when, before the end of the same session, they discussed Burke's +Bill for Economical Reform, and passed it, though it was a money-bill, +"containing extraneous enactments," and as such contravened one of their +own standing orders which had been passed in the beginning of Queen +Anne's reign, when the system of "tacking," as it was called, had +excited great discontent, which was not confined to themselves. The +propriety of rejecting the bill on that ground was vigorously urged by +the only two lawyers who took part in the debate, the Chancellor, Lord +Thurlow, and Lord Loughborough, whose object was avowedly thus to give a +practical proof that the Lords "had not voted themselves useless." But +even those who disregarded their advice fully asserted the right of the +peers "to exercise their discretion as legislators." We have noticed +this matter on a previous occasion. The privilege claimed by the +Commons, both as to its origin and its principle, has been carefully +examined by Hallam, who has pointed out that in its full exclusiveness +it is not older than Charles II., since the Convention Parliament of +1660 "made several alterations in undoubted money-bills, to which the +Commons did not object."[69] And, though his attachment to Whig +principles might have inclined him to take their part in any dispute on +the subject, he nevertheless thinks that they have strained both +"precedent and constitutional analogy" in their assertion of this +privilege, which is "an anomaly that can hardly rest on any other ground +of defence than such a series of precedents as establish a +constitutional usage." The usage which for two centuries was established +in this case by the good-sense of both parties clearly was, that the +Lords could never originate a money-bill, nor insert any clause in one +increasing or even altering the burden laid by one on the people, but +that they were within their right in absolutely rejecting one. But such +a right has a tendency to lapse through defect of exercise; and we shall +hereafter see that "the disposition to make encroachments," which in +this matter Hallam imputes to the Commons, has led them in the present +reign to carry their pretensions to a height which at a former period +had been practically ignored by the one House, and formally disclaimed +by the other. + +It may be remarked that Mr. Dunning's success in carrying his first +resolution did in itself, to a certain extent, disprove the truth of +that resolution, since, if the influence of the crown had been such as +he represented it, it must have been sufficient to insure its rejection. +But that resolution, and a new statute, of which in a previous session +he had been one of the principal promoters, are reckoned by Lord +Stanhope as among the chief causes of the disgraceful riots of 1780. In +the summer of 1778 he had seconded and supported with great eloquence +the repeal of some of the penal statutes against the Roman Catholics +which had been passed in the reign of William III. It was the first blow +at that system of religious intolerance which for nearly a century had +been one of the leading principles, as it had been also the chief +disgrace, of the constitution; and it was passed with scarcely any +opposition by both Houses. As, however, the statute which it repealed +had been enacted before the Scotch Union, the repeal did not extend to +Scotland, and it was necessary, therefore, to bring in a separate +measure for that kingdom. But the intelligence that such a proceeding +was in contemplation excited great wrath among the Scotch Presbyterians, +who, in the hope of defeating it, established a Protestant Association +for the defence of what they called the Protestant interest, and elected +as its president Lord George Gordon, a young nobleman whose acts on more +than one occasion gave reason to doubt the soundness of his intellect. +Against any relaxation whatever of the restrictions on the Roman +Catholics the Association sent up petitions to the House and to the +King, couched in language the wildness of which was hardly consistent +with the respect due to Parliament or to the sovereign. Apparently in +the hope of mitigating its opposition, the Houses the next year passed +an act, similar in principle, to relax some of the restrictions still +imposed on Protestant dissenting ministers by some of the subscriptions +which were required of them. But, as in the reign of Charles II., the +Presbyterian hatred of the Roman Catholics was too uncompromising to be +appeased in such a manner. And when Lord George found the House of +Commons itself acknowledging the danger with which the constitution was +threatened by the influence of the crown, he saw in their vote a +justification for all his alarms, since he had adopted as one of his +most settled opinions the belief that George III. was himself a Papist +at heart; and, under the influence of this strange idea, he drew up a +petition to Parliament which he invited all the members of the +Association to accompany him to present. His summons was received with +enthusiasm by his followers. The number who, in obedience to it, +mustered in St. George's Fields, which he had appointed as the place of +rendezvous, was not reckoned by any one at less than fifty thousand, and +some calculations even doubled that estimate. Whatever the number may +originally have been, it was speedily swelled by the junction of large +bands of the worst characters in the metropolis, who soon began to +display their strength by every kind of outrage. They commenced by +attacking some of the Roman Catholic chapels, which they burnt; and, +their audacity increasing at the sight of their exploits, they proceeded +to assault the houses of different members of Parliament who had voted +for the measures which had offended them. Because the Chief-justice, +Lord Mansfield, had lately presided at a trial where a Roman Catholic +had been acquitted, they sacked and burnt his house, and tried to murder +himself. The magistrates, afraid of exposing themselves to the fury of +such a mob, kept for the most part out of the way; and though the troops +had been put under arms, and several regiments from the rural districts +had been brought up to London in haste, the military officers were +afraid to act without orders. Left to work their pleasure almost without +resistance, the rioters attacked the different prisons, burnt Newgate +and released all the prisoners, and made more than one attack on the +Bank of England, where, however, fortunately the guard was strong enough +to repel them. But still no active measures were taken to crush the +riot. The belief was general that the soldiers might not act at all, or, +at all events, not fire on rioters, till an hour after the Riot Act had +been read and the mob had been warned to disperse; and no magistrate +could be found to brave its fury by reading it. There seemed no obstacle +to prevent the rioters from making themselves masters of the whole +capital, had it not been for the firmness of the King himself, who, when +all the proper authorities failed, showed himself in fact as well as in +name the Chief Magistrate of the kingdom.[70] He summoned a Privy +Council, and urged the members to adopt instant measures of repression; +and, when some of the ministers seemed to waver, he put the question +himself to the Attorney-general whether the interpretation put on the +Riot Act, which seemed to him inconsistent with common-sense, were +justified by the law. Wedderburn unhesitatingly replied that it was not; +that "if a mob were committing a felony, as by burning dwelling-houses, +and could not be prevented by other means, the military, according to +the law of England, might and ought to be immediately ordered to fire +upon them, the reading of the Riot Act being wholly unnecessary under +such circumstances."[71] The King insisted on this opinion being +instantly acted on; a proclamation was issued, and orders were sent from +the Adjutant-general's office that the soldiers were to act at once +without waiting for directions from the civil magistrates. A few hours +now sufficed to restore tranquillity. The Chief-justice, in his place in +the House of Lords, subsequently declared Wedderburn's opinion, and the +orders given in reliance upon it, to be in strict conformity with the +common law, laying down, as the principle on which such an +interpretation of the law rested, the doctrine that in such a case the +military were acting, "not as soldiers, but as citizens; no matter +whether their coats were red or brown, they were legally employed in +preserving the laws and the constitution;"[72] and Wedderburn, who +before the end of the year became Chief-justice of the Common Pleas, +repeated the doctrine more elaborately in a charge from the Bench. It +was a lesson of value to the whole community. It was quite true that the +constitution placed the army in a state of dependence on the civil +power. But, when that doctrine was so misunderstood as to be supposed to +give temporary immunity to outrage, it was most important that such a +misconstruction should be corrected, and that it should be universally +known that military discipline does not require the soldier to abstain +from the performance of the duty incumbent on every citizen, the +prevention of crime. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 33: It is worth while to preserve the amount, if for no other +reason, for the contrast that the expenditure and resources of the +kingdom a hundred years ago present to those of the present day. The +supply required in 1764 was in round numbers L7,712,000; in 1755, before +the war broke out, L4,073,000, and even that included a million for the +augmentation of the army and navy. In 1761, when the war was at its +height, the sum voted was L19,616,000.] + +[Footnote 34: The report in the "Parliamentary History," xvi., 37, says: +"This act (the Stamp Act) passed the Commons almost without debate; two +or three members spoke against it, but without force or apparent +interest, except a vehement harangue from Colonel Barre (date, March 6, +1765)."] + +[Footnote 35: Lord Stanhope ("History of England," v., 131) quotes a +letter of Dr. Franklin to one of his friends in America, in which, after +deploring the impossibility of preventing the act from being passed, he +expresses a hope that "frugality and industry will go a great way toward +indemnifying us." And he complied with Mr. Grenville's request to select +a person to act as Distributor of Stamps in Pennsylvania whom he thought +likely to be generally acceptable.] + +[Footnote 36: These statements and arguments of Franklin are taken from +different parts of his examination before the House of Commons, as +preserved in the "Parliamentary History," xvi., 137-160.] + +[Footnote 37: In the Assembly of Virginia, one of the members--Patrick +Henry--after declaiming with bitterness against the supposed arbitrary +measures of the present reign, exclaimed, "Caesar had his Brutus, +Charles I. his Oliver Cromwell, and George III.--" A cry of "Treason!" +was uttered. The Speaker called Mr. Henry to order, and declared he +would quit the chair unless he were supported by the House in +restraining such intemperate speeches.--Adolphus, _History of England_, +i., 188.] + +[Footnote 38: On this point the law has been affirmed by a judge of high +reputation to be still what Lord Rockingham and his colleagues asserted. +In 1868, on the trial of Governor Eyre for an indictment arising out of +disturbances in Jamaica, Judge Blackburne laid it down "that, although +the general rule is that the Legislative Assembly has the sole right of +imposing taxes in the colony, yet, when the Imperial Legislature chooses +to impose taxes, according to the rule of English law they have a +_right_ to do it."] + +[Footnote 39: See his speech on American taxation in April, 1774.] + +[Footnote 40: The chief divisions were: in the Commons, 275 to 167; in +the Lords, 105 to 71.] + +[Footnote 41: "History of England," vol. v., c. xlv., p. 218, ed. 1862.] + +[Footnote 42: "Lives of the Chancellors," c. cxliii., life of Lord +Camden.] + +[Footnote 43: Every political student will recollect Burke's description +of it as "a cabinet so variously inlaid, such a piece of diversified +mosaic, such a tessellated pavement without cement--here a bit of black +stone, there a bit of white--patriots and courtiers, King's friends and +republicans, Whigs and Tories, treacherous friends and open enemies," +etc.--_Speech on American Taxation_.] + +[Footnote 44: In a debate in the year 1776, on some measures adopted for +the conduct of the war, the Duke of Grafton said: "In that year (1767), +when the extraordinary expenses incurred on account of America were laid +before the House of Commons, the House rose as one man and insisted that +that country should contribute to the burdens brought on by the military +establishment there, and a motion was made for bringing in a bill for +that purpose. I strenuously opposed the measure, as big with the +consequences it has since, unfortunately, produced. I spoke to my +friends upon the occasion, but they all united in the opinion that the +tide was too strong to expect either to stem or turn it, so as to +prevent whatever might be offered in that shape from passing into a law. +Finding that all my efforts would be vain, I was compelled to submit, +but was resolved, as far as lay in my power, to prevent the effect; and, +while I gave way, to do it in such a manner as would cause the least +harm. I accordingly proposed the tea-duty as the most palatable; +because, though it answered the main purpose of those with whom taxation +was a favorite measure, it was doing America an immediate benefit, for I +procured the shilling a pound duty to be taken off, and threepence to be +laid on in lieu thereof; so that, in fact, it was ninepence a pound +saved to America. However, the attempt was received in America as I +expected it would be--it immediately caused disturbances and universal +dissatisfaction."--_Parliamentary History_, xviii., 134.] + +[Footnote 45: This unpopularity had been aggravated by another measure +which was among the last acts of Mr. Grenville's ministry. The Mutiny +Act in the Colonies was renewed for two years at a time, and, at its +renewal in the spring of 1765, a clause was added which required the +Colonists to furnish the troops with "fire, candles, vinegar, salt, +bedding, utensils for cooking, and liquors, such as beer, cider, and +rum." The Assemblies of several States passed resolutions strongly +condemning this new imposition; but, as the dissatisfaction did not lead +to any overt acts of disturbance, it seems to have been unnoticed in +England at the time, or the clause would probably have been repealed by +Lord Rockingham; and eventually the Assembly of New York seems to have +withdrawn its objections to it, presenting an address to Sir H. Moore, +the Governor, in which "they declared their intention of making the +required provision for the troops."--Lord E. Fitzmaurice, _Life of Lord +Shelburne_, ii., 61.] + +[Footnote 46: The "Memoirs of Judge Livingstone" record his expression +of opinion as early as 1773, that "it was intolerable that a continent +like America should be governed by a little island three thousand miles +distant." "America," said he, "must and will be independent." And in the +"Memoirs of General Lee" we find him speaking to Mr. Patrick Henry, who +in 1766 had been one of the most violent of all the denouncers of the +English policy (see _ante_, p. 63), of "independence" as "a golden +castle in the air which he had long dreamed of."] + +[Footnote 47: See the whole speech, "Parliamentary History," xvi., 853. +Many of the taxes he denounced as so injurious to the British +manufacturers, "that it must astonish any reasonable man to think how so +preposterous a law could originally obtain existence from a British +Legislature."] + +[Footnote 48: The division was: for the amendment, 142; against it, +204.] + +[Footnote 49: The words of the "preamble," on which Burke dwelt in 1774, +were: "Whereas it is expedient that a revenue should be raised in your +Majesty's dominions in America for making a more certain and adequate +provision for defraying the charge of the administration of justice and +support of civil government in such provinces where it shall be found +necessary, and toward farther defraying the expenses of defending, +protecting, and securing: the said dominions, be it enacted," etc.] + +[Footnote 50: "Memoirs and Correspondence of Jefferson." Quoted by Lord +Stanhope, "History of England," vi., 14.] + +[Footnote 51: At Lexington, April 19, 1775.] + +[Footnote 52: Lord Stanhope, however, has reason on his side when he +calls the words of this petition "vague and general," though "kindly and +respectful;" and when he points to the language of extreme bitterness +against England indulged in by Franklin at the very time that this +petition was voted. He, however, expresses a belief that even then "the +progress of civil war might have been arrested," which seems doubtful. +But it is impossible not to agree with his lordship in condemning the +refusal by the ministry to take any notice of the petition, on the +ground that the Congress was a self-constituted body, with no claim to +authority or recognition, and one which had already sanctioned the +taking up arms against the King.--_History of England_, vi., 93, 95, +105.] + +[Footnote 53: It is probable, however, that the greater part of the +Hanoverian soldiers were Protestants.] + +[Footnote 54: Lord Campbell, who, in his "Life of Lord Bathurst," +asserts that the legality of the measure turns upon the just +construction of the Act of Settlement, adduces Thurlow's language on +this subject as "a proof that he considered that he had the privilege +which has been practised by other Attorney-generals and Chancellors too, +in debate, of laying down for law what best suited his purpose at the +moment." It does not seem quite certain that the noble and learned +biographer has not more than once in these biographies allowed himself a +similar license in the description of questions of party politics.] + +[Footnote 55: In the debates on the subject it was stated that the +number of Hanoverians quartered in the two fortresses was nineteen +hundred, and the number of British troops left in them was two thousand. +Moreover, as has been already remarked, though Lord Shelburne spoke of +arming Roman Catholics, it is probable that the Hanoverians were mostly +Protestants.] + +[Footnote 56: The Preliminary or Provisional Articles, as they were +called, of which the Definitive Treaty was but a copy, were signed at +Paris, November 30, 1782, during Lord Shelburne's administration. But +the Definitive Treaty was not signed till the 3d of September of the +following year, under the Coalition Ministry, which was turned out a few +weeks afterward.] + +[Footnote 57: We shall see in a subsequent chapter that even in this +reign of George III. Pitt laid down the true principles of our +legislation for the colonies in his bill for the better government of +Canada.] + +[Footnote 58: An admirably reasoned passage on the influence of the +crown, especially in the reigns of the two first Hanoverian Kings, will +be found in Hallam, "Constitutional History," c. xvi., vol. iii., p. +392, ed. 1832.] + +[Footnote 59: The "Parliamentary History" shows that he had brought +forward the same motion before 1780; since Lord Nugent, who replied to +him, said "the same motion had been made for some years past, and had +been silently decided on." From which it seems that it was never +discussed at any length till May 8, 1780.] + +[Footnote 60: On the division the numbers were: for the motion, 90; +against it, 182.] + +[Footnote 61: The division in 1782 was: 161 to 141; in 1783, 293 to +149.] + +[Footnote 62: How systematic and open bribery was at this time is shown +by an account of Sheridan's expenses at Stafford in 1784, of which the +first item is--248 burgesses, paid L5 5s. each, L1302.--Moore's _Life of +Sheridan_, i., 405.] + +[Footnote 63: "Life of Pitt," i., 359.] + +[Footnote 64: Lord North was a Knight of the Garter, the only commoner, +except Sir R. Walpole, who received that distinction in the last +century, and the latest, with the exception of Lord Castlereagh. on whom +it has been conferred.] + +[Footnote 65: 233 to 315.] + +[Footnote 66: It is perhaps worth pointing out, as a specimen of the +practical manner in which parliamentary business was transacted at that +time, that this great debate--in which (the House being in committee) +Mr. Dunning himself spoke three times, and Lord North, Mr. T. Pitt, Mr. +Fox, the Speaker (Sir F. Norton), the Attorney-general, General Conway, +Governor Pownall, the Lord-advocate, and several other members took +part--was concluded by twelve o'clock.] + +[Footnote 67: February 8, 1780, on Lord Shelburne's motion for an +inquiry into the public expenditure.--_Parliamentary History_, xx., +1346.] + +[Footnote 68: 101 to 55.] + +[Footnote 69: "Constitutional History," iii., 43.] + +[Footnote 70: His language is said to have been that "there was at all +events one Magistrate in the kingdom who would do his duty."--Lord +Stanhope, _History of England_, vii., 48.] + +[Footnote 71: "Lives of the Lord Chancellors," c. clxvii.] + +[Footnote 72: Lord Stanhope's "History of England," vii, 56.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Changes of Administration.--The Coalition Ministry.--The Establishment +of the Prince of Wales.--Fox's India Bill.--The King Defeats it by the +Agency of Lord Temple.--The Ministry is Dismissed, and Succeeded by Mr. +Pitt's Administration.--Opposition to the New Ministry in the House of +Commons.--Merits of the Contest between the Old and the New +Ministry.--Power of Pitt.--Pitt's India Bill.--Bill for the Government +of Canada.--The Marriage of the Prince of Wales to Mrs. +Fitzherbert.--The King becomes Deranged.--Proposal of a +Regency.--Opinions of Various Writers on the Course adopted.--Spread of +Revolutionary Societies and Opinions.--Bills for the Repression of +Sedition and Treason.--The Alien Act.--The Traitorous Correspondence +Act.--Treason and Sedition Bills.--Failure of some Prosecutions under +them. + + +The occurrences of the next year brought the question of the influence +of the crown into greater prominence. Lord Rockingham's administration, +unfortunately, came to a premature termination by his death at the +beginning of July. With a strange arrogance, Fox claimed the right of +dictating the choice of his successor to the King, making his +pretensions the more unwarrantable by the character of the person whom +he desired to nominate, the Duke of Portland, who, though a man of vast +property and considerable borough influence, was destitute of ability of +any kind, and had not even any of that official experience which in some +situations may at times compensate or conceal the want of talent.[73] +The King preferred Lord Shelburne, a statesman whose capacity was +confessedly of a very high order, who had more than once been Secretary +of State,[74] and who had been recognized as the leader of what was +sometimes called the Chatham section of the Whigs, ever since the death +of the great Earl. Indeed, if George III. had been guided by his own +wishes and judgment alone, he would have placed him at the Treasury, in +preference to Lord Rockingham, three months before. But, during the last +three months, jealousies had arisen between him and Fox, his colleague +in office, who charged him with concealing from him the knowledge of +various circumstances, the communication of which he had a right to +require. It was more certain that on one or two points connected with +the negotiations with the United States there had been divisions between +them, and that the majority of the cabinet had agreed with Lord +Shelburne. Lord Shelburne, therefore, became Prime-minister,[75] and +Fox, with some of his friends, resigned; Fox indemnifying himself by a +violent philippic against "those men who were now to direct the counsels +of the country," and whom he proceeded to describe as "men whom neither +promises could bind nor principles of honor could secure; who would +abandon fifty principles for the sake of power, and forget fifty +promises when they were no longer necessary to their ends; who, he had +no doubt, to secure themselves in the power which they had by the labor +of others obtained, would strive to strengthen it by any means which +corruption could procure."[76] + +Fox at once went into what even those most disposed to cherish his +memory admit to have been a factious opposition. He caballed with the +very men to whom he had hitherto been most vehemently opposed for the +sole object of expelling Lord Shelburne from office. And when, at the +beginning of the session of 1783, the merits of the preliminary articles +of peace which had been provisionally concluded with the United States +came under discussion, though the peers approved of them, in the House +of Commons he defeated the ministers in two separate divisions,[77] and +thus rendered their retention of office impossible. He had gained this +victory by uniting with Lord North and a portion of the Tory party whom, +ever since his dismissal from office in 1774, he had been unwearied in +denouncing, threatening Lord North himself with impeachment. And he now +used it to compel the King to intrust the chief office in the government +to the very man whom his Majesty had refused to employ in such an office +six months before. + +The transactions of the next twelve months exhibit in a striking light +more than one part of the practical working of our monarchical and +parliamentary constitution, not only in its correspondence with, but, +what is more important to notice, in its occasional partial deviations +from, strict theory. The theory has sometimes been expressed in the +formula, "The King reigns, but does not govern." But, like many another +terse apophthegm, it conveys an idea which requires some modification +before it can be regarded as an entirely correct representation of the +fact; and the King himself, especially if endowed with fair capacity and +force of character, imbued with earnest convictions, and animated by a +genuine zeal for the honor and welfare of his kingdom, will be likely to +dwell more on the possible modifications than on the rigid theory. Even +those who insist most on the letter of the theory will not deny that, if +the King has not actual power, he has at least great influence; and the +line between authority and influence is hard to draw. One of George the +Third's earliest ministers had explained to his Majesty that the +principle of the constitution was, "that the crown had an undoubted +right to choose its ministers, and that it was the duty of subjects to +support them, unless there were some very strong and urgent reasons to +the contrary."[78] And such a doctrine was too much in harmony with the +feelings of George III. himself not to be cordially accepted. For George +III. was by no means inclined to be a _Roi faineant_. No sovereign was +ever penetrated with a more conscientious desire to do his duty to his +people. Conscious, perhaps, that his capacity was rather solid than +brilliant, he gave unremitting attention to the affairs of the nation in +every department of the government; and, perhaps not very unnaturally, +conceived that his doing so justified him, as far as he might be able, +in putting a constraint on his ministers to carry out his views. Thus, +he had notoriously induced Lord North to persevere in the late civil war +in America long after that minister had seen the hopelessness of the +contest; and it was, probably, only the knowledge of the strength of his +feelings on that subject, and of his warm attachment to that minister, +that caused the Parliament so long to withstand all the eloquence of the +advocates of peace, and the still stronger arguments of circumstances. +He might fairly think that he had now greater reason to adhere to his +own judgment; for Fox's recommendation of the Duke of Portland in +preference to Lord Shelburne was an act not only of unwarrantable +presumption, but of inconceivable folly, since there was no comparison +between the qualifications of the two men; and the coalition by which, +six months afterward, he had, as it were, revenged himself for the +rebuff, and had driven Lord Shelburne from office, was, as the King well +knew, and as even Fox's own friends did not conceal from themselves, +almost universally condemned out-of-doors.[79] To this combination, +therefore, his Majesty tried every expedient to escape from yielding. +And when Pitt's well-considered and judicious refusal of the government +left him no alternative but that of submission to Fox's dictation, it +would hardly have been very unnatural if his disposition and attitude +toward a ministry which had thus forced itself upon him had been those +attributed to him by Lord John Russell, of "an enemy constantly on the +watch against it."[80] But for some time that was not the impression of +the ministers themselves. In July, when they had been in office more +than three months, Fox admitted that he had never behaved toward them as +if he were displeased with them, and that he had no project of +substituting any other administration for the present one.[81] And his +temperate treatment of them was the more remarkable, because a flagrant +blunder of Burke (who filled the post of Paymaster), in reinstating some +clerks who had been dismissed by his predecessor for dishonesty, had +manifestly weakened the ministry in the House of Commons;[82] while in +another case, in which the King had clearly in no slight degree a +personal right to have his opinion consulted and his wishes accepted by +them as the guide for their conduct, the establishment to be arranged +for the Prince of Wales, whose twenty-first birthday was approaching, +Fox persuaded the Parliament to settle on the young Prince an allowance +of so large an amount that some even of his own colleagues disliked it +as extravagant;[83] while the King himself reasonably disapproved both +of the amount and of the mode of giving it, the amount being large +beyond all precedent, and the fact of its being given by Parliament +rendering the Prince entirely independent of his parental control, of +which his conduct had given abundant proof that he stood greatly in +need. + +That he presently changed his line of behavior toward them was caused by +their introduction of a bill which he regarded as aimed in no small +degree at his own prerogative and independence--the celebrated India +Bill, by which, in the November session, Fox proposed to abrogate all +the charters which different sovereigns had granted to the East India +Company, to abolish all vested rights of either the Company or +individuals, and to confer on a board of seven persons, to be named by +Parliament, the entire administration of all the territories in any way +occupied by the Company. It was at once objected to by the Opposition in +the House of Commons, now led by Mr. Pitt, as a measure thoroughly +unconstitutional, on the twofold ground that such an abrogation of +formally granted charters, and such an extinction of vested rights, was +absolutely without precedent; and also that one real, if concealed, +object of the bill was to confer on the ministers who had framed and +introduced it so vast an amount of patronage as would render them +absolute masters of the House of Commons, and indirectly, therefore, of +the King himself, who would be practically disabled from ever dismissing +them. That such a revocation of ancient charters, and such an immovable +establishment of an administration, were inconsistent with the +principles of the constitution, was not a position taken up by Pitt in +the heat of debate, but was his deliberate opinion, as may be fairly +inferred from his assertion of it in a private letter[84] to his friend +the Duke of Rutland. It may, however, be doubted whether the epithet +"unconstitutional" could be properly applied to the bill on either +ground. There is, indeed, a certain vagueness in the meaning, or at all +events in the frequent use of this adjective. Sometimes it is used to +imply a violation of the provisions of the Great Charter, or of its +later development, the Bill of Rights; sometimes to impute some imagined +departure from the principles which guided the framers of those +enactments. But in neither sense does it seem applicable to this bill. +To designate the infringement or revocation of a charter by such a +description would be to affirm the existence of a right in the sovereign +to invest a charter, from whatever motive it may originally have been +granted, with such a character of inviolability or perpetuity that no +Parliament should, on ever such strong grounds of public good, have the +power of interfering with it. And to attribute such a power to the crown +appears less consistent with the limitations affixed to the royal +prerogative by the constitution, than to regard all trusts created by +the crown as subject to parliamentary revision in the interests of the +entire nation. On the second ground the description seems even less +applicable. An arrangement of patronage is a mere matter of detail, not +of principle. For the minister to propose such an arrangement as should +secure for himself and his party a perpetual monopoly of power and +office might be grasping and arrogant; for Parliament (and Parliament +consists of the sovereign and the peers, as well as of the House of +Commons) to assent to such an arrangement might be short-sighted and +impolitic; but it is not clear that either the minister in proposing +such an enactment, or the Parliament in adopting it, would be violating +either the letter or the spirit of the constitution. Every member of the +Governing Board was to be appointed by the Parliament itself; and, +though unquestionably Fox would have the nomination, and though he could +reckon on the support of the majority in the House of Commons for those +whom he might select, still it was a strictly constitutional machinery +that he was putting in motion. + +A measure, however, may be very objectionable without being +unconstitutional, and such a view of the India Bill the progress of the +debates in the House of Commons disposed the King to take of it. In the +House of Peers Lord Thurlow described the bill as one to take the crown +off his head and place it on that of Mr. Fox; and, even without adopting +that description to its full extent, the King might easily regard the +bill as a very unscrupulous attempt to curtail his legitimate authority +and influence. He became most anxious to prevent the bill from being +presented to him for his royal assent. And it was presently represented +to him that the knowledge of his desire would probably induce the Lords +to reject it. Among the peers who had attacked the bill on its first +introduction into their House was Earl Temple, whose father had taken so +prominent a part in the negotiations for the formation of a new ministry +in 1765, and who had himself been Lord-lieutenant of Ireland under Lord +Shelburne's administration. But he had not thought it prudent to divide +the House against its first reading, and felt great doubts as to his +success in a division on the second, unless he could fortify his +opposition by some arguments as yet untried. He had no difficulty in +finding a willing and effective coadjutor. Since the retirement of Lord +Bute from court, no peer had made himself so personally acceptable to +the King as Lord Thurlow, who had been Lord Chancellor during the last +four years of Lord North's administration, and, in consequence, as it +was generally understood, of the earnest request of George III., had +been allowed to retain the seals by Lord Rockingham, and afterward by +Lord Shelburne. What special attraction drew the King toward him, unless +it were some idea of his honesty and attachment to the King himself--on +both of which points subsequent events proved his Majesty to be wholly +mistaken--it is not very easy to divine; but his interest with the King +at this time was notorious, and equally notorious was the deep +resentment which he cherished against Fox and Lord North, of whom, as he +alleged, the former had proscribed and the latter had betrayed him. To +him, therefore, Lord Temple now applied for advice as to the best mode +of working on the King's mind, and, with his assistance, drew up a +memorial on the character of the India Bill, on its inevitable fruits if +it should pass (which it described as an extinction of "more than half +of the royal power, and a consequent disabling of his Majesty for the +rest of his reign"), and on the most effectual plan for defeating it; +for which end it was suggested that his Majesty should authorize some +one to make some of the Lords "acquainted with his wishes" that the bill +should be rejected.[85] + +George III. eagerly adopted the suggestion, and drew up a brief note, +which he intrusted to Lord Temple himself, and which stated that "his +Majesty allowed Earl Temple to say that whoever voted for the India Bill +was not only not his friend, but would be considered by him as his +enemy. And, if these words were not strong enough, Earl Temple might +whatever words he might deem stronger and more to the purpose."[86] + +Lord Temple lost no time in availing himself of the permission thus +granted him; and, as it was by no means his object to keep the +transaction secret, his conduct was made the subject of severe comment +by the Prime-minister himself the next time that the bill was mentioned +in the Upper House. The Duke of Portland, indeed, professed to have +learned it only from common report, and to hope that the report was +unfounded, since, were it true, "he should be wanting in the duty he +owed to the public as a minister if he did not take the opportunity of +proposing a measure upon it to their lordships that would prove that +they felt the same jealousy, the same detestation, the same desire to +mark and stigmatize every attempt to violate the constitution as he +did." Lord Temple, in reply, abstained from introducing any mention of +the King's opinions or wishes, but avowed plainly that he had used his +privilege as a peer to solicit an interview with his Majesty, and that +at that interview "he had given his advice. What that advice had been he +would not then say; it was lodged in the breast of his Majesty, nor +would he declare the purport of it without the royal consent, or till he +saw a proper occasion. But, though he would not declare affirmatively +what his advice to his sovereign was, he would tell their lordships +negatively what it was not. It was not friendly to the principle and +objects of the bill."[87] The debate lasted till near midnight. Of the +speakers, a great majority declared against the bill; and, on the +division, it was rejected by a majority of nineteen.[88] This took place +on the 15th of December. On the 18th, as the ministers had not +resigned--not regarding a single defeat in the Upper House as a +necessary cause for such a step--the King sent messengers to them to +demand their resignation, and the next day it was publicly announced in +the House of Commons that Pitt had accepted the office of +Prime-minister. + +But Fox, who had anticipated the dismissal of himself and his +colleagues, was by no means inclined to acquiesce in it, or to yield +without a struggle; and on the 17th one of his partisans in the House of +Commons, Mr. Baker, one of the members for Hertfordshire, brought +forward some resolutions on the subject of the late division in the +House of Lords. He professed to rest them solely on rumors, but he urged +that "it was the duty of that House to express its abhorrence even of +that rumor," since by such an action as was alleged "that responsibility +of ministers which was the life of the constitution would be taken away, +and with it the principal check that the public had upon the crown." And +he urged "the members of that House, as the guardians of the +constitution, to stand forward and preserve it from ruin, to maintain +that equilibrium between the three branches of the Legislature, and that +independence without which the constitution could no longer exist," and +with this view to resolve "that to report any opinion, or pretended +opinion, of his Majesty upon any bill or other proceeding depending in +either House of Parliament, with a view to influence the votes of the +members, is a high crime and misdemeanor, derogatory to the honor of the +crown, a breach of the fundamental privileges of Parliament, and +subversive of the constitution of the country." It was opposed by Pitt, +chiefly on the ground that Mr. Baker only based the necessity for such a +resolution on common report, which he, fairly enough, denied to be a +sufficient justification of it; and partly on the undoubted and +"inalienable right of peers, either individually or collectively, to +advise his Majesty, whenever they thought the situation of public +affairs made such a step an essential part of their duty." But it was +supported by Lord North as "necessary on constitutional principles," +since the acts so generally reported and believed "affected the freedom +of debate;" and by Fox, who declared that the action which was reported, +if true, "struck at the great bulwark of our liberties, and went to the +absolute annihilation, not of our chartered rights only, but of those +radical and fundamental ones which are paramount to all charters, which +were consigned to our care by the sovereign disposition of Nature, which +we cannot relinquish without violating the most sacred of all +obligations, to which we are entitled, not as members of society, but as +individuals and as men; the right of adhering steadily and uniformly to +the great and supreme laws of conscience and duty; of preferring, at all +hazards and without equivocation, those general and substantial +interests which members have sworn to prefer; of acquitting themselves +honorably to their constituents, to their friends, to their own minds, +and to that public whose trustees they were, and for whom they acted." +He avowed his conviction that rumor in this instance spoke truth, and, +affirming that "the responsibility of ministers is the only pledge and +security the people of England possesses against the infinite abuses so +natural to the exercise of royal powers," argued that, if "this great +bulwark of the constitution were once removed, the people would become +in every respect the slaves and property of despotism. This must be the +necessary consequence of secret influence." He argued that the sole +distinction between an absolute and a limited monarchy was that the +sovereign in one is a despot, and may do as he pleases, but that in the +other he is himself subjected to the laws, and consequently is not at +liberty to advise with any one in public affairs who is not responsible +for that advice, and that the constitution has clearly directed his +negative to operate under the same wise restrictions. Mr. Baker's +resolution was carried by a large majority; but, as we have seen, did +not deter the King from dismissing the ministry. + +The conduct of George III. in this transaction has been discussed by +writers of both parties with such candor that the Tory historian, Lord +Stanhope, while evidently desirous to defend it by implication, passes a +slight censure on it in the phrase that "the course pursued by the King +was most unusual, and most extreme, and most undesirable to establish as +a precedent;"[89] while, on the other hand, so rigid a Whig as Lord +Campbell urges in his favor "that if it be ever excusable in a King of +England to cabal against his ministers, George III. may well be defended +for the course he now took, for they had been forced upon him by a +factious intrigue, and public opinion was decidedly in his favor."[90] +But to those who regard not the excuse which previous provocation may be +conceived in some degree to furnish to human infirmity, but only the +strict theory and principle of the constitution on which the doctrine of +the responsibility of the ministers and the consequent irresponsibility +of the sovereign rests, Lord Campbell's conditional justification for +the communication made through Lord Temple will hardly appear +admissible. We cannot be sure how far Mr. Grenville's "Diary" is to be +trusted for transactions in which he was not personally concerned, or +for conversations at which he was not present; but in giving an +account[91] of some of the occurrences of the spring of 1766, while Lord +Rockingham was Prime-minister, we find him relating a conversation +between the King and Lord Mansfield on the ministerial measure for +conciliating the American Colonies by the repeal of the Stamp Act, +combined, however, with an assertion of the _right_ to tax. "He (Lord +Mansfield) took notice of the King's name having been bandied about in a +very improper manner; to which the King assented, saying he had been +very much displeased at it, as thinking it unconstitutional to have his +name mentioned as a means to sway any man's opinion in any business +which was before Parliament; and that all those who approached him knew +that to be his sentiment. Lord Mansfield said he differed from his +Majesty in that opinion, for that, though it would be unconstitutional +to endeavor by his Majesty's name to carry questions in Parliament, yet +where the lawful rights of the King and Parliament were to be asserted +and maintained, he thought the making his Majesty's opinion in support +of those rights to be known was very fit and becoming." The line here +alleged to have been drawn by the great Chief-justice, between +proclaiming the King's opinion in support of rights, but withholding it +in the case of measures, is, perhaps, too fine to be perceptible by +ordinary intellects. But however the King may have understood the judge, +it is clear that the doctrine thus asserted does not justify, but +condemns, such an act as the communication of the King's opinion and +wishes in the case under consideration. If it "would be unconstitutional +to endeavor by his Majesty's name to carry questions in Parliament," it +must be at least equally so to use his name to defeat them. And the case +is infinitely stronger, if the measure to be defeated be one which has +been introduced by his ministers. For there can be no doubt whatever +that, so long as they are his ministers, they are entitled to his full +and complete support on every question; alike in their general policy +and on each separate measure. When he can no longer give them that +support, which the very act of conferring their offices on them promised +them, his only legitimate and becoming course is to dismiss them from +their offices, and to abide the judgment of Parliament and the nation on +that act. Thus William IV. acted in the autumn of 1834; and thus George +III. himself acted at the end of the month of which we are speaking. But +to retain them in their offices, and to employ an unofficial declaration +of his dissent from them to defeat their policy, is neither consistent +with the straightforward conduct due from one gentleman to another, nor +with the principle on which the system of administration, such as +prevails in this country, is founded. + +As has been already mentioned, the King at once dismissed the Coalition +Ministry. Mr. Pitt accepted the conduct of affairs, and by so doing +accepted the responsibility for all the acts of the King which had +conduced to his appointment. Lord John Russell, who in his "Memorials +and Correspondence of Fox" has related and examined the whole +transaction at considerable though not superfluous length, while blaming +the prudence, and in some points the propriety, of Fox's conduct, at the +same time severely censures Pitt as "committing a great fault in +accepting office as the price of an unworthy intrigue," and affirms that +"he and his colleagues who accepted office upon the success of this +intrigue placed themselves in an unconstitutional position."[92] This +seems to be a charge which can hardly be borne out. In dismissing his +former ministry, the King was clearly acting within his right; and, if +so, Pitt was equally within his in undertaking the government. The truer +doctrine would seem to be, that, in so undertaking it, he assumed the +entire responsibility for the dismissal of his predecessors,[93] and +left it to the people at large, by the votes of their representatives, +to decide whether that dismissal were justified, and whether, as its +inevitable consequence, his acceptance of office were also justified or +not. The entire series of transactions, from the meeting of Parliament +in November, 1783, to its dissolution in the following March, may be +constitutionally regarded as an appeal by the King from the existing +House of Commons to the entire nation, as represented by the +constituencies; and their verdict, as is well known, ratified in the +most emphatic manner all that had been done. And we may assert this +without implying that, if the single act of empowering Lord Temple to +influence the peers by the declaration of the King's private feeling had +been submitted by itself to the electors, they would have justified +that. The stirring excitement of the three months' contest between the +great rivals led them to pronounce upon the transaction as a whole, and +to leave unnoticed what seemed for the moment to be the minor +issues--the moves, if we may borrow a metaphor from the chess-table, +which opened the game; and it may be observed that, though, on the 17th +of December, Pitt resisted Mr. Baker's resolution with his utmost +energy, in the numerous debates which ensued he carefully avoided all +allusion to Lord Temple's conduct, or to the measure which had led to +the dismissal of his predecessors, farther than was necessary for the +explanation of the principles of his own India Bill. It may even be +surmised that, if he had been inclined to recognize Lord Temple's +interference as warrantable, the breach between that peer and himself, +which occurred before the end of the week, would not have taken place, +since it seems nearly certain that the cause of that breach was a +refusal on the part of Pitt to recommend his cousin for promotion in the +peerage, a step which, at such a moment, would have had the appearance +of an approval of his most recent deed,[94] but which he could hardly +have refused, if it had been done with his privity. The battle, as need +hardly be told, was first fought among the representatives of the people +in the House of Commons; for there was only one occasion on which the +opinion of the Lords was invited, when they declared in favor of Pitt by +a decisive majority.[95] But in the Lower House the contest was carried +on for more than two months with extraordinary activity and ability, by +a series of resolutions and motions brought forward by the partisans of +the coalition, and contested by the youthful minister. In one respect +the war was waged on very unequal terms, Pitt, who had been but three +years in Parliament, and whose official experience could as yet only be +counted by months, having to contend almost single-handed against the +combined experience and eloquence of Lord North, Fox, and Burke. +Fortunately, however, for him, their own mismanagement soon turned the +advantage to his side. They were too angry and too confident to be +skilful, or even ordinarily cautious. The leaders on both sides made +professions in one respect similar; they both alike denied that a desire +of office influenced either their conduct or their language (a denial +for which Pitt's refusal of the Treasury, a year before, gained him more +credit than could be expected by Fox after his coalition with Lord +North), and both alike professed to be struggling for the constitution +alone, for some fundamental principle which each charged his antagonist +with violating; Fox on one occasion even going so far as, in some +degree, to involve the King himself in his censures, declaring not only +that "the struggle was, in fact, one between Pitt himself and the +constitution," but that it was also one "between liberty and the +influence of the crown," and "between prerogative and the constitution;" +and that "Pitt had been brought into power by means absolutely +subversive of the constitution."[96] But no act of which he thus accused +the minister or the King showed such a disregard of the fundamental +principle of the constitution of Parliament as was exhibited by Fox +himself when, in the very first debate after the Christmas recess, he +called in question that most undoubted prerogative of the crown to +dissolve the Parliament, and, drawing a distinction which had certainly +never been heard of before, declared that, though the King had an +incontestable right to dissolve the Parliament after the close of a +session, "many great lawyers" doubted whether he had such a right in the +middle of a session, a dissolution at such a period being "a penal" one. +Professing to believe that an immediate dissolution was intended, he +even threatened to propose to the House of Commons "measures to guard +against a step so inimical to the true interests of the country," and +made a more direct attack than ever on the King himself, by the +assertion of a probability that, even if Pitt did not contemplate a +dissolution, his royal master might employ "secret influence" to +overrule him, and might dissolve in spite of him,[97] an imputation +which Lord North, with a strange departure from his customary +good-humor, condescended to endorse.[98] There could be no doubt that +both the doubt and the menace were of themselves distinct attacks on the +constitution; and they were, moreover, singularly impolitic and +inconsistent with others of the speaker's arguments, since, if the +nation at large approved of his views and conduct, a dissolution--which +would have placed the decision in its hands--would have been the very +thing he should most have desired. On another evening, though he +admitted as a principle that the sovereign had the prerogative of +choosing his ministers, he not only sought to narrow the effect of that +admission by the assertion that "to exercise that prerogative in +opposition to the House of Commons would be a measure as unsafe as +unjustifiable,"[99] but to confine the right of deciding the title of +the ministers to confidence to the existing House of Commons. He accused +Pitt of "courting the affection of the people, and on this foundation +wishing to support himself in opposition to the repeated resolutions of +the House passed in the last three weeks." Had he confined himself to +urging the necessity of the ministers and the House of Commons being in +harmony, even though such a mention of the House of Commons by itself +were to a certain extent an ignoring of the weight of the other branches +of the Legislature, he would have only been advancing a doctrine which +is practically established at the present day, since there has been +certainly more than one instance in which a ministry has retired which +enjoyed the confidence of both the sovereign and the House of Lords, +because it was not supported by a majority in the House of Commons. But +when he proceeded to make it a charge against the minister that he +trusted to the good-will of the people to enable him to disregard the +verdict of the House of Commons, he forgot that it was only as +representing the people that the House had any right to pronounce a +verdict; and that, if it were true that the judgment of the people was +more favorable to the minister than that of the House of Commons, the +difference which thus existed was a condemnation of the existing House, +and an irresistible reason for calling on the constituencies to elect +another. + +Pitt, therefore, had no slight advantage in defending himself against so +rash an assailant. "He did not shrink," he said, "from avowing himself +the friend of the King's just prerogative," and in doing so he +maintained that he had a title to be regarded as the champion of the +people not less than of the crown. "Prerogative had been justly called a +part of the rights of the people, and he was sure it was a part of their +rights which they were never more inclined to defend, of which they were +never more jealous, than at that hour."[100] And he contended that Fox's +objections to a dissolution betrayed a consciousness that he had not the +confidence of the nation. At last, when the contest had lasted nearly +two months, Fox took the matter into his own hands, and, no longer +putting his partisans in the front of the battle, on the 1st of March he +himself moved for an address to the King, the most essential clause of +which "submitted to his Majesty's royal consideration that the +continuance of an administration which did not possess the confidence of +the representatives of the people must be injurious to the public +service." ... And, therefore, that "his Majesty's faithful Commons did +find themselves obliged again to beseech his Majesty that he would be +graciously pleased to lay the foundation of a strong and stable +government by the previous removal of his present ministers." In the +speech with which he introduced this address he put himself forward as +especially the champion of the House of Commons. He charged the +Prime-minister with an express design "to reduce the House to +insignificance, to render it a mere appendage to the court, an +appurtenance to the administration." He asserted the existence of a +systematic "design to degrade the House, after which there was not +another step necessary to complete the catastrophe of the constitution." +And on this occasion he distinguished the feelings of the King from +those which influenced the minister, affirming his confidence "that the +King's heart had no share in the present business."[101] + +Pitt, on the other hand, in reply, affirmed that he was called on by +duty "to defend the rights of the other branches of the Legislature; the +just and constitutional prerogative of the sovereign," upon which the +Opposition was seeking to encroach, without even having shown a single +reason to justify such invasion. He freely admitted that, if the House +of Commons or either of the other branches of the Legislature +"disapproved of an administration on proper grounds, it would not be +well for that administration to retain office." But in the present +instance he contended that "no ground for disapprobation had been +shown." The existing administration "had, in fact, by an unaccountable +obstinacy and untowardness of circumstances, been deprived of all +opportunity" of showing its capacity or its intentions. "If any +accusations should be made and proved against it, if any charges should +be substantiated, it would, indeed be proper for the ministers to +resign; and if, in such a case he were afterward to continue in office, +he would suffer himself to be stigmatized as the champion of +prerogative, and the unconstitutional supporter of the usurpation of the +crown. But till this period arrived, he should reckon it his duty to +adhere to the principles of the constitution, as delivered to us by our +ancestors; to defend them against innovation and encroachment, and to +maintain them with firmness." "The constitution of this country," he +presently added, "is its glory; but in what a nice adjustment does its +excellence consist! Equally free from the distractions of democracy and +the tyranny of monarchy, its happiness is to be found in its mixture of +parts. It was this mixed government which the prudence of our ancestors +devised, and which it will be our wisdom to support. They experienced +all the vicissitudes and distractions of a republic; they felt all the +vassalage and despotism of a simple monarchy. They abandoned both; and, +by blending each together, extracted a system which has been the envy +and admiration of the world. This system it is the object of the present +address to defeat and destroy. It is the intention of this address to +arrogate a power which does not belong to the House of Commons; to place +a negative on the exercise of the prerogative, and to destroy the +balance of power in the government as it was settled at the Revolution." + +Fox had urged that our history afforded no example of a ministry +retaining office after the House of Commons had passed a resolution +condemning it. Pitt, in reply, urged that our history equally failed to +furnish any instance of a ministry having been called on to retire +without any misconduct being alleged against them. And the result of the +division showed that his arguments and his firmness were producing an +impression on the House, for, though he was again defeated, the majority +against him (only twelve) was far smaller than on any previous +division.[102] A week later, this feeling in his favor was shown still +more decidedly, when Fox, on moving for a fresh address, or, as he +termed it, a representation to the King that the House had received his +Majesty's reply to their address "with surprise and affliction," he +could only carry it by a single vote.[103] And this division closed the +struggle. Fox made no farther effort. Before the end of the month the +Parliament was dissolved, and the general election which ensued sent to +the House a majority to support the ministers which Pitt was fairly +warranted in claiming as the full justification of the course which he +had pursued. + +On a review of the whole of this extraordinary transaction, or series of +transactions, it is impossible to avoid regarding the issue of the +struggle as an all-important element in the case, and a test almost +decisive of the correctness of conduct of the rival leaders. We may +leave out of the question the action of the King in his communication to +Lord Temple, which, although sanctioned by the great legal authority of +Lord Thurlow, we are, for reasons already given, compelled to regard as +unconstitutional, but for which Mr. Pitt was only technically +responsible; having, indeed, made himself so by his subsequent +acceptance of office, but having had no previous suspicion of the royal +intentions. Similarly, we may dismiss from our consideration the merits +or demerits of Fox's India Bill, the designs which were imputed to its +framers, or the consequences which, whether intended or not by them, +were predicted as certain to flow from it. And we may confine ourselves +to the question whether, in the great Parliamentary struggle which +ensued, and which lasted for more than three months,[104] the doctrines +advanced by Mr. Fox, and the conduct pursued by him, were more or less +in accordance with the admitted rules and principles of the +constitution. + +These doctrines may be reduced to two: the first a declaration that no +minister is justified in retaining office any longer than he is +sustained in it by the favorable judgment of the representatives of the +people. Taken by itself, this, but for one consideration, might be +pronounced the superfluous assertion of a truism; superfluous, because +it is obvious that a House of Commons hostile to a minister can compel +his resignation by obstructing all his measures. And Pitt himself +recognized this as fully as Fox, though we may hardly agree with him +that the Opposition was bound to allow him time to develop his policy, +and to bring forward his various measures, before it pronounced an +opinion adverse to them. In 1835, when Sir R. Peel first met Parliament +after his acceptance of office, consequent on the King's dismissal of +Lord Melbourne's ministry, the Opposition encountered and defeated him +twice in the first week of the session--on the choice of a Speaker, and +on the address, though the latter had been framed with the most skilful +care to avoid any necessity for objection; but no attempt was made by +him to call in question the perfect right of Lord J. Russell and his +followers in the House to choose their own time and field of battle. But +there is one farther consideration, that the authority belonging to the +judgment of the House of Commons depends on that judgment being not +solely its own, but the judgment also of the constituencies which have +returned it, and whose mouth-piece it is; and also that the House is not +immortal, but is liable to be sent back to those constituencies, to see +whether they will ratify the judgment which their representatives have +expressed; whether, in other words, their judgment be the judgment of +the nation also. This farther consideration was, in fact, Pitt's plea +for resisting the majorities which, through January and February, so +repeatedly pronounced against him. And in determining to appeal to the +constituencies, as the court of ultimate resort, he was clearly within +the lines of the constitution. + +It follows that Fox, in protesting against a dissolution, in threatening +even to take steps to prevent it, was acting in self-evident violation +of all constitutional principle and precedent. He was denying one of the +most universally acknowledged of the royal prerogatives. The distinction +which he endeavored to draw between a dissolution at the close of a +session and one in the middle of it, had manifestly no validity in law +or in common-sense. The minister had a clear right to appeal from the +House of Commons to the people, and one equally clear to choose his own +time for making that appeal. The appeal was made, the judgment of the +nation was pronounced, and its pronouncement may be, and indeed must be, +accepted as a sufficient justification, in a constitutional point of +view, of Pitt's conduct both in accepting and retaining office. If he +retained it for three months, in opposition to the voice of the existing +House of Commons, he could certainly allege that he was retaining it in +accordance with the deliberate judgment of the nation. + +And this is the verdict of a modern statesman, a very careful student of +the theory of our Parliamentary constitution, and one whom party +connection would notoriously have inclined to defend the line taken by +Mr. Fox, had it been possible to do so. Indeed, he may be said to show +his bias in that statesman's favor when he affirms that he would have +been right in moving a resolution of censure on Pitt for "his acceptance +of office," which he presently calls the result of "the success of a +court intrigue,"[105] and, without a particle of evidence to justify the +imputation, affirms to "have been prepared beforehand with much art and +combination." But _amicus Fox, sed magis arnica veritas_; and though he +thus passes censure on Pitt, where the facts on which he bases it are at +least unproved, on those points as to which the facts are clear and +certain he condemns Fox altogether, affirming that his "attempt to show +that the crown had not the prerogative of dissolving Parliament in the +middle of a session had neither law nor precedent in its support."[106] +And he proceeds to lay down, with great clearness and accuracy, "the +practice as well as the theory of our mixed government," which is, that +"when two of the powers of the state cannot" agree, and the business of +the state is stopped, the only appeal is to the people at large. Thus, +when in the reign of Queen Anne the House of Lords and the House of +Commons fulminated resolutions at each other, a dissolution cleared the +air and restored serenity. If no case had occurred since the Revolution +of a quarrel between the crown and the House of Commons, the cause is to +be sought in the prudence with which every sovereign who had reigned +since that event had wielded his constitutional authority. If George +III. had been wanting in that prudence, it did not follow that he was +debarred from the right of appealing to the people. Any other doctrine +would invest the House of Commons, elected for the ordinary business of +the state, with a supreme power over every branch of it. This supreme +power must rest somewhere; according to our constitution it rests in the +common assent of the realm, signified by the persons duly qualified to +elect the members of the House of Commons; and Lord Russell, in thus +expounding his ideas on this subject, was undoubtedly expressing the +view that ever since the transactions of which we have been speaking has +been taken of the point chiefly in dispute. Since that day there has +been more than one instance of Parliament being dissolved in the middle +of a session; but, though the prudence of the different ministers who +advised such dissolutions may, perhaps, have been questioned--nay, +though in one memorable instance it was undoubtedly a penal dissolution +in the fullest sense of the word[107]--no one has ever accused the +sovereign's advisers of seducing him into an unconstitutional exercise +of his prerogative. + +Pitt was now Prime-minister, with a degree of power in Parliament and of +popularity out-of-doors that no former minister, not even his own +father, had ever enjoyed. As such, by the confession of one who was +certainly no friendly critic,[108] "he became the greatest master of +Parliamentary government that has ever existed." His administration may +be regarded as a fresh starting-point in the history of the country, as +the inauguration of the principle of steady amendment, improvement, and +progress, in place of the maxims which had guided all his predecessors +since the Revolution, of regarding every thing as permanently settled by +the arrangements made at that time, and their own duty, consequently, as +binding them to keep everything in its existing condition. But, of all +the ministers recorded in our annals, there is not one so greatly in +advance of his time as Pitt; and from the very outset of his ministerial +career he applied himself, not only to the removal or correction of +admitted abuses or defects, but, in cases where the fault, being in our +general system of policy, had been less conspicuous, to the +establishment of new principles of action which have been the rules of +all succeeding statesmen. He was not, indeed, the first raiser of the +question of Parliamentary Reform, but he was the first to produce an +elaborate scheme with that object, parts of which, such as the +suppression of the smaller boroughs and the enfranchisement of places +which had gradually become more important, have been leading features of +every subsequent bill on the subject. He was the first to propose the +removal of those political disabilities under which the Roman Catholics +labored, which no one before him had regarded as consistent with the +safety of the state, and to which he sacrificed office. He was the first +to conceive the idea of developing our national industries and resources +by commercial treaties with other nations, even choosing for his +essay-piece a treaty with a country with which our relations for nearly +five hundred years had been almost uninterruptedly hostile, and which +Fox, in the heat of his opposition, objected even to consider in any +other light than that of an enemy. He laid the foundation for all +subsequent legislation connected with our colonies in his Bill for the +Government of Canada; and he established a system for the government of +our Indian dependencies on so statesman-like a principle, that all +subsequent administrations concurred in upholding it, till subsequent +events compelled the abolition of all the share in the government of the +country previously possessed by the Company. + +A great writer of the past generation,[109] who in some respects has +done full justice to his genius and political virtue, has, however +(partly, it can hardly be doubted, from regarding himself as a follower +of his great rival, Fox), contrasted his capacity as a War-minister with +that of his father, drawing a comparison on this point very +disadvantageous to the son. We need not stop to examine how far the +praises which he bestows on Lord Chatham's talents as a planner of +military operations are deserved; but it may very fairly be contended +that the disparaging views of Pitt's military policy which he has +advanced are founded solely on what is in this as well as in many other +instances a most delusive criterion, success. It is true, +unquestionably, that in the campaigns of 1793-4-5 against the French +revolutionists, while he took upon this country the entire burden of the +naval war, on land he contented himself with playing a secondary part, +and employing a comparatively small force (which, however, doubled that +which his father had sent to Minden),[110] for the success of the +military operations trusting chiefly to the far stronger Austrian and +Prussian divisions, under the command of Prince Coburg and the Duke of +Brunswick, to which the British regiments were but auxiliaries. It is +true, also, that the result of their operations was unfortunate, and +that the German generals proved wholly unable to contend with the fiery +and more skilful impetuosity of Jourdan and Pichegru. But the question +is not whether Pitt's confidence in the prowess of his allies was +misplaced, but whether he had not abundant reason to justify him in +entertaining it. And, to judge fairly on this point, we must recollect +the reputation which for the last forty years the Austrian and Prussian +armies had enjoyed. The result of the seven years' war had established +the renown of the Prussians, and the Duke of Brunswick was understood to +be a favorite pupil of the Great Frederic. The same war had shown that +the Austrians were not very unequal to the Prussians; while the +reputation of the French troops had fallen to the lowest ebb, the most +memorable event in their annals during the same war being the rout of +Rosbach, when 60,000 of them fled before Frederic and 22,000. At the +breaking out of the Revolution, it might be said that De Bouille was the +only French general of the slightest reputation, and since the sad +journey to Varennes he had been an exile from his country. And, though +again in 1803 Pitt once more trusted for success on land to Continental +alliances, not only does he deserve admiration for the diplomatic talent +with which he united Austria, Prussia, and Russia against France, but it +can hardly be doubted that confederacy would have been triumphant, had +not the incompetent vanity of Alexander ruined all its prospects by his +rash disregard at Austerlitz of the experienced warnings of his own +staff.[111] + +The new form of government which he established for India, and to which +allusion has been made, has lost the greater part of its importance in +the eyes of the present generation, from the more-recent abolition of +the political authority of the East India Company, though of some of the +principles which he avowed he had taken for his guides it is worth while +to preserve the record; with such clearness, as well as statesman-like +wisdom, do they affirm the objects which every one should keep in view +who applies himself to legislation for distant dependencies where the +privileges and interests of foreign fellow-subjects are to be regarded +with as jealous a solicitude as those of our own countrymen. These +objects may be briefly described as being the reconciling the vested and +chartered interests of the Company with the legitimate authority of the +King's government; for, though Pitt admitted that "state necessity" +might occasionally be allowed as a valid reason for the abrogation of a +charter, he affirmed that nothing short of such absolute necessity could +excuse such a measure, and he relied on the previous history of the +Company to prove the fallacy of an observation that had sometimes been +made, that commercial companies could not govern empires. There were +three interests to be considered: that of the native Indians, that of +the Company, and that of this country; and the problem to be solved was, +"how to do the most good to India and to the East India Company with the +least injury to our constitution." Some of his remarks contained +unavoidable allusions to Fox's bill of the previous year, since some of +the provisions of his bill were entirely opposite to those which Fox had +framed, the most material point of difference being the character of the +Board of Control which he proposed to establish. Fox, as has been seen, +had proposed to make the commissioners to be appointed under his bill +irremovable for several years, whatever changes might take place in the +home government; an arrangement which the opposers of the bill suspected +of being designed to prevent any change in the home government from +taking place. Pitt, on the other hand, laid down as one of his leading +principles that "the board could not be permanent, that it must be +subordinate to the administration of the day, and that permanency would +be in itself a deviation from the principles of the constitution, and +would involve the board in contradictions to the executive government +that could not fail to be attended with great public inconvenience. An +institution to control the government of India must be either totally +independent of the government of this country or subordinate to it." +"The board was to consist of none but privy councillors," and instead of +the vast amount of patronage which was to have been created by the bill +of 1783, this board was "to create no increase of officers nor to impose +any new burdens." ... "The first and leading ideas would be, to limit +the subsisting patronage;" ... and so little was Pitt covetous to +engross that which did and must continue to subsist, that he left even +"the officers of the government of Bengal to the nomination of the Court +of Directors, subject only to the negative of the crown; and the Court +of Directors was also to have the nomination of the officers of all the +subordinate governments, except only of the commander-in-chief, who, for +various reasons, must remain to be appointed by the crown." Another very +important part of the arrangement was, that "gradation and succession +were to be the general rule of promotion," a regulation which of itself +would be "a forcible check upon patronage, and tend greatly to its +reduction." The governor of Bengal was to be the governor-general of the +whole country, the governors of Madras and Bombay being subordinate to +him; and each governor was to be assisted by a council of three members, +of whom the commander of the forces was to be one. + +The spirit in which a law or a government is administered is commonly of +greater practical importance than the words in which the regulation or +the system is framed or defined; and Pitt, therefore, concluded his +speech by laying down a few "clear and simple principles as those from +which alone a good government could arise. The first and principal +object would be to take care to prevent the government from being +ambitious and bent on conquest. Commerce was our object, and, with a +view to its extension, a pacific system should prevail, and a system of +defence and conciliation. The government there ought, therefore, in an +especial manner, to avoid wars, or entering into alliances likely to +create wars." It was not to forget "to pay a due regard to self-defence, +or to guard against sudden hostilities from neighboring powers, and, +whenever there was reason to apprehend attack, to be in a state of +preparation. This was indispensably necessary; but whenever such +circumstances occurred, the executive government in India was not to +content itself with acting there as the circumstances of the case might +require; it was also to send immediate advice home of what had happened, +of what measures had been taken in consequence, and what farther +measures were intended to be pursued; and a tribunal was to be +established to take cognizance of such matters." The system of taking +presents from the natives was to be absolutely prohibited, a regulation +which he hoped would "tend effectually to check private corruption;" +and, lastly, it was proposed to establish a court of criminal judicature +for the trial in England of certain classes of delinquents after their +return from India. The Judges of the court were to be men of the highest +character; they were to be chosen by ballot, some being taken from the +bench of judges, some from each House of Parliament. And they were "not +to be tied down to strict rules of evidence, but to be upon their oaths +to give their judgments conscientiously, and to pronounce such judgment +as the common law would warrant." Such a tribunal he admitted to be an +innovation; but, "unless some new process were instituted, offences +shocking to humanity, opposite to justice, and contrary to every +principle of religion and morality, must continue to prevail, unchecked, +uncontrolled, and unrestrained, and the necessity of the case outweighed +the risk and the hazard of the innovation." + +These were the general outlines of the constitution which in 1784 the +Parliament established for India, and the skill with which it was +adapted to the very peculiar character of the settlements to be governed +is sufficiently proved by the fact that it was maintained with very +little alteration equally by Whig and Tory administrations for +three-quarters of a century, till the great convulsion of the Mutiny +compelled an entire alteration in the system, and the abolition of the +governing powers of the Company, as we shall have occasion to relate in +a subsequent chapter. The principles which Pitt had laid down as the +guiding maxims for the governors; the avoidance of ambitious views of +conquest, the preservation of peace, and the limitation of the aims of +the government to the encouragement and extension of commerce, were not +equally adhered to. Undoubtedly, in some instances, the wars in which, +even during Pitt's too short lifetime, the Indian government was +engaged, came under his description of wars which were justifiable on +the ground of self-defence--wars undertaken for the preservation of what +had been previously won or purchased, rather than for the acquisition of +new territories at the expense of chiefs who had given us no +provocation. But for others, though professedly undertaken with a view +only of anticipating hostile intentions, the development of which might +possibly be reserved for a distant future, it is not easy to find a +similar justification; and it may be feared that in more than one case +governors-general, conscious of great abilities, have been too much +inclined to adopt the pernicious maxim of Louis XIV., that the +aggrandizement and extension of his dominions is the noblest object +which a ruler of nations can have in view. Yet, though unable on +strictly moral grounds to justify all the warlike enterprises which make +up so large a part of our subsequent Indian history, it is impossible, +probably, for even the most rigid moralist to avoid some feelings of +national pride in the genius of our countrymen, who in the short space +of a single century have built up an empire of a magnitude unequalled +even by the Caesars, and have governed and still are governing it in so +wise and beneficent a spirit, and with such a display of administrative +capacity, that our rule is recognized as a blessing by the great +majority of the nations themselves, as a protection from ceaseless +intestine war, from rapine, and that worst of tyrannies, anarchy, which +was their normal condition before Clive established our supremacy at +Plassy, and into which they would surely and speedily fall back, if our +controlling authority were to be withdrawn. + +India was not the only British settlement for which the growth of our +empire compelled Pitt to devise a constitution. The year which saw his +birth had also seen the conquest of Canada from the French; and in 1774 +a system of government for the new province had been established which +it is sufficient here to describe as one, which differed but little from +a pure despotism, the administration being vested in a governor and +Legislative Council, every member of which was to be nominated by the +crown. But the working of this act had from the first proved very +unsatisfactory, and had become more so as the population increased by +the influx of fresh settlers from Great Britain, and also from the +United States, here many of those who in the recent civil war had +adhered the connection with the mother country had been exposed to +constant malice and ill-treatment, and had preferred crossing the border +and obtaining lands in Canada to returning to England. Pitt recognized +the evil, and undertook to remedy it and in 1791 he introduced a bill to +establish a constitution for Canada, which a recent historian describes +as "remarkable, as recognizing for the first time the wise and generous +principle of independent colonial institutions, which has since been +fully developed in every dependency of the British crown capable of +local self-government."[112] One peculiar difficulty in framing such a +constitution arose from the circumstance of the old French colonists, +who greatly outnumbered the settlers of British blood, being attached to +the Roman Catholic religion; while the British settlers were nearly, or +perhaps all, Protestant, though of different denominations. The +difficulty was, indeed, lessened by the circumstance that the French +dwelt in Quebec and the district between that city and the mouth of the +St. Lawrence, and that the English had for the most part betaken +themselves to the more inland region. And this local separation of the +two races the minister now took for his guide in the arrangement which +he devised. The most important feature in it was the division of the +province into two parts, as Upper and Lower Canada, and the +establishment of a distinct local Legislature for each division, a House +of Assembly being created in each, and a Council, so as, in Pitt's +words, "to give both divisions the full advantages of the British +constitution." The Assemblies were to have the power of taxation (so +that there was no room left for such perverse legislation by a British +Parliament as had lately cost its sovereign the United States). The act +of _habeas corpus_ was extended to the province (a privilege which no +one of French blood had ever enjoyed before); the tenure of land was to +be the socage[113] tenure so long and happily established in England. +Complete religious toleration was established, and a certain proportion +of land was allotted in Upper Canada, as a provision for a Protestant +clergy, and the foundation of an ecclesiastical establishment. So great +was Pitt's desire to complete the resemblance between the colony and +Great Britain, that he even contemplated the creation of an aristocracy, +by the introduction of a provision enabling the King to grant hereditary +colonial titles, the possession of which should include hereditary seats +in the provincial Council. The two latter clauses were opposed by Fox, +and the latter of them, though sanctioned by Parliament, was never +carried out in practice. But Fox, bitter as he was at this time in his +general opposition to the government, agreed cordially in the general +principles of the bill, avowing his conviction that "the only method of +retaining distant colonies with advantage is to enable them to govern +themselves," so that each party in the British Parliament is entitled to +a share of the credit for this pattern of all subsequent colonial +constitutions--Pitt for the original genius for organization which his +contrivance of all the complicated details of the measure displayed, and +Fox for his frank adoption of the general principle inculcated by his +rival, even while differing as to some of the minor details of the +measure. During these years the country was increasing in prosperity, +and the minister was daily rising in credit; more powerful and more +popular than the most successful or the most brilliant of his +predecessors. But during these same years two great constitutional +difficulties had arisen, one of which, indeed, the deep sense which both +parties felt of the danger of investigating it shelved almost as soon as +it was seen; but the other of which, besides the importance which it +derived from the degree in which it involved the principle of the +supreme authority of Parliament, and brought under discussion even that +which regulates the succession to the crown, imperilled the existence of +the ministry, and threatened a total change in both the domestic and +foreign policy of the nation. + +The Prince of Wales, who had come of age in the summer of 1783, had at +once begun to make himself notorious for the violence of his opposition +to his father's ministers, carrying the openness of his hostility so far +as, during the Westminster election to drive about the streets with a +carriage and all his servants profusely decorated with Fox's colors; +and, still more discreditably, by most unmeasured profligacy of all +kinds. The consequence was that he soon became deeply involved in debt, +so deeply that, in 1787, a member of Fox's party gave notice of his +intention to move that the Parliament should pay his debts and increase +his income. Pitt, without specifying his reasons, avowed that he should +feel it his duty to oppose any grant of such a character; but another +member of Parliament, Mr. Rolle, one of the members for Devonshire, +being trammelled by no such feeling of responsibility, expressed a +similar resolution in language which contained an allusion perfectly +understood on both sides of the House. He said that "the question thus +proposed to be brought forward went immediately to affect our +constitution in Church and State." And every one knew that he was +referring to a report which had recently become general, that the Prince +was married to a Roman Catholic lady of the name of Fitzherbert. No +direct notice was taken of this allusion at the moment, Fox himself, who +had the chief share of the Prince's confidence, being accidentally +absent; but a day or two afterward he referred to Rolle's speech with +great indignation, declaring that it referred to a "low, malicious +calumny" which had no foundation whatever, and "was only fit to impose +on the lowest order of persons." Being pressed as to the precise force +of his assertion, and being asked whether it meant more than that under +the existing laws, such as the Royal Marriage Act, there had been no +marriage, because there could have been no _legal_ marriage, he declared +that he meant no such evasion, but that no marriage ceremony, legal or +illegal, had ever taken place; and farther, that in saying this he was +speaking on the direct authority of the Prince himself. No more +degrading act stains the annals of British royalty. For the fact was +true--the very next evening Fox learned the deceit which the Prince had +practised on him from a gentleman who had been one of the witnesses to +the marriage, which had been solemnized by a Protestant clergyman +fifteen months before.[114] And his indignation was such that for some +time afterward he abstained from all interference in the Prince's +affairs; while the language held by the Prince's other confidant, Mr. +Sheridan, was so evasive as to betray a consciousness that whatever had +occurred would not bear the light of day; so that there were very few to +whom the truth or falsehood of the report was a subject of interest who +felt any uncertainty on the subject. + +It may, probably, be regarded as fortunate for the peace of the kingdom +that the Prince, who eventually became King George IV., left behind him +no issue from his marriage with the Princess, the failure of heirs of +his body thus removing any temptation to raise the question whether he +had not himself forfeited all right to succeed to the throne by his +previous marriage to a Roman Catholic. A clause of the Bill of Rights +provides that any member of the royal family who should marry a Roman +Catholic (with the exception of the issue of princesses who may be the +wives of foreign princes) shall by that marriage be rendered incapable +of inheriting the crown of England. And though the Royal Marriage Act +(which, as we have seen, had been recently passed) had enacted that no +marriage of any member of the royal family contracted without the +consent of the reigning sovereign should be valid, it by no means +follows that an invalidity so created would exempt the contractor of a +marriage with a Roman Catholic, which as an honorable man he must be +supposed to have intended to make valid, from the penalties enacted by +the Bill of Rights. It is a point on which the most eminent lawyers of +the present day are by no means agreed. The spirit of the clause in that +bill undoubtedly was, that no apparent or presumptive heirs to the crown +should form a matrimonial connection with any one who should own +allegiance to a foreign power, and that spirit was manifestly +disregarded if a prince married a Roman Catholic lady, even though a +subsequent law had enacted a conditional invalidity of such a marriage. +We may find an analogy to such a case in instances where a man has +abducted a minor, and induced her to contract a marriage with himself. +The lady may not have been reluctant; but the marriage has been +annulled, and the husband has been criminally prosecuted, the nullity of +the marriage not availing to save him from conviction and punishment. A +bigamous marriage is invalid, but the bigamist is punished. And, apart +from any purely legal consideration, it may be thought that public +policy forbids such a construction of law as would make the illegality +or invalidity of an act (and all illegal acts must be more or less +invalid) such a protection to the wrong-doer as would screen him from +punishment. + +Whatever may be the judgment formed on the legal aspect and merits of +the case, the conduct of the Prince could not fail to give the great +body of the people, justly jealous at all times of their national +adherence to truthfulness and honesty, a most unfavorable impression of +his character. As has been already mentioned, Fox was so indignant at +having been made the instrument to assure the Parliament and the nation +of a falsehood, that he for a time broke off all communication with +him.[115] Yet a singular caprice of fortune, or, it would be more proper +to say, a melancholy visitation of Providence, before the end of the +following year led Fox to carry his championship of the same Prince who +had so abused his confidence to the length of pronouncing the most +extravagant eulogies on his principles, and on his right to the +confidence and respect of the nation at large. In the autumn of 1788 the +King fell into a state of bad health, which in no long time affected his +mind, and, by the middle of November, had so deranged his faculties as +to render him incapable of attending to his royal duties, or, in fact, +transacting any business whatever. Parliament was not sitting, but its +re-assembling had been fixed for the 4th of December, and before that +day arrived the King's illness had assumed so alarming a character, and +it appeared so unsafe to calculate on his immediate recovery, that the +minister summoned a Privy Council, the summons being addressed to the +members of the Opposition as well as to his own followers, to receive +the opinions of the physicians in attendance on his Majesty, as a +necessary foundation for the measures which he conceived it to be his +duty to propose to Parliament. Those opinions were, that it was almost +certain that the disease would not be permanent, though no one could +undertake to fix its duration with the least appearance of probability. +And, as the royal authority could not be left in abeyance, as it were, +for an uncertain period, it was indispensable to appoint a Regent to +conduct the affairs of the kingdom till the King should, happily, be +once more in a condition to resume his functions. + +In considering the line of conduct adopted in this emergency by Pitt and +his great rival Fox, Pitt has one manifest advantage on his side, that +it is impossible to attribute the course which he took to any personal +motive, or any desire for the retention of official power; while it is +equally impossible to doubt that Fox was in no slight degree,[116] and +that Lord Loughborough, the prince's chief adviser on points of law, was +wholly influenced by the hope of supplanting the ministry. Pitt had +never the least doubt that on the establishment of the Regency he should +be dismissed, and was prepared to return to the Bar. But his knowledge +of the preference which the Prince entertained for his rival did not +lead him to hesitate for a single moment as to the propriety of placing +him in a situation to exercise that preference. On the reassembling of +Parliament, he at once took what he conceived to be the proper +parliamentary course of proceeding; at his suggestion committees in both +Houses were appointed to take a formal examination of the royal +physicians; and, when those committees had reported that the King was +for the present incapable of discharging his royal functions, though +likely at some future period to be able to resume them, he moved the +House of Commons to appoint another committee, to search for "precedents +of such proceedings as might have been taken in the case of the personal +exercise of the royal authority being prevented or interrupted by +infancy, sickness, or infirmity, with a view to provide for the same." +Such a search for precedents was no novelty, and may be thought to have +been especially proper in such a case as this, since history recorded +the appointment of several regencies, one under circumstances strikingly +resembling those now existing, when, in 1454, Henry VI. had fallen into +a state of imbecility, and the Parliament appointed the Duke of York +Protector[117] of the kingdom. + +But Fox instantly opposed it with extreme vehemence, declaring that the +appointment of such a committee would be a pure waste of time. It was +notorious, he affirmed, that no precedent existed which could have any +bearing on the present case, since there was in existence a person such +as had never been found on any previous occasion, an heir-apparent of +full age and capacity to exercise the royal authority; and he declared +it to be his deliberate opinion that the Prince of Wales had "as clear +and express a right to assume the reins of government, and to exercise +all the powers of sovereignty, during the illness and incapacity of the +sovereign, as if that sovereign were actually deceased." Such an +assertion of indefeasible right was so totally at variance with the Whig +doctrines which Pitt, equally with Fox, regarded as the true principles +of the constitution, that Pitt at once perceived the advantage which it +gave him, by enabling him to stand forward as the supporter of the +supreme authority of Parliament, which Fox had by implication denied. He +instantly replied that to assert an inherent indefeasible right in the +Prince of Wales, or any one else, independently of the decision of the +two Houses, fell little short of treason to the constitution; but, at +the same time, to prevent any one pretending to misconceive his +intentions, he allowed it to be seen with sufficient plainness that, +when once the right of Parliament to appoint the Regent had been +established, he should agree in the propriety of conferring that office +on the Prince of Wales. The committee was appointed; but, even before it +could report the result of its investigations, the doctrine advanced by +Fox had been the subject of discussion in the House of Lords, where Lord +Camden, who had presided over the meeting of the Privy Council a few +days before, on moving for the appointment of a similar committee of +peers, had taken occasion to declare that, if Fox had made such an +assertion as rumor imputed to him, it was one which had no foundation in +"the common law of the kingdom." He had never read nor heard of such a +doctrine. Its assertors might raise expectations not easily laid, and +might involve the country in confusion. And he contended, as Pitt had +done in the Commons, that its assertion was a strong argument in favor +of the appointment of a committee, that it might be at once seen whether +it were warranted by any precedent whatever. The reports of the two +committees bore out Fox's statement, that no precedent entirely +applicable to the case before them had ever occurred. But by this time +Fox had learned that the argument which he had founded on it was in the +highest degree unpalatable both to Parliament and to the nation; and for +a moment he sought to modify it by an explanation that, though he had +claimed for the Prince "the naked right, he had not by that expression +intended to maintain that that right could be reduced into possession +without the consent of Parliament;" an explanation not very reconcilable +to common sense, since, if a right were inherent and indefeasible, +Parliament could not, without absolute tyranny, refuse to sanction its +exercise; and, in fact, his coadjutor, Sheridan, on the very same +evening, re-asserted his original doctrine in, if possible, still more +explicit terms, warning the minister "of the danger of provoking the +Prince to assert his right," while a still greater man (Burke) declared +that "the minister had taken up an attitude on the question tantamount +to that of setting himself up as a competitor to the Prince." Such +inconsiderate violence gave a great advantage to Pitt, one of whose most +useful characteristics as a debater was a readiness and presence of mind +that nothing could discompose. He repelled such menaces and imputations +with an equally lofty scorn, and, after a few necessary preliminaries, +brought forward a series of resolutions, one of which declared the fact +of the sovereign's illness, and consequent incapacity; a second affirmed +it to be the right and duty of the two Houses of Parliament to provide +the means for supplying the defect in the royal authority; and a third +imposed on the Houses the task of deciding on the mode in which the +royal assent necessary to give their resolutions the authority of law +should be signified. It was impossible to object to the first; but the +second was stubbornly contested by the Opposition, the chiefs of the +Coalition Ministry once more fighting side by side; though Lord North +contented himself with arguing that the affirmation of the right and +duty of Parliament was a needless raising of a disputable point, and +moving, therefore, that the committee should report progress, as the +recognized mode of shelving it. Fox, however, carried away by the heat +of debate, returned to the assertion of the doctrine of absolute right, +overlooking his subsequent modification of it, and again gave Pitt the +advantage, by condescending to impugn his motives for proposing the +resolution, as being inspired, not by a zeal for the constitution, but +by a consciousness that he did not deserve the confidence of the Prince, +and, therefore, anticipated his instant dismissal by the Regent. The +re-affirmation of the Prince's inherent right was, indeed, necessary to +Fox as the foundation for the objections which he took to other parts of +Pitt's scheme. For the minister, while admitting to its full extent the +irresistible claim which the Prince of Wales possessed to the preference +of Parliament for the Regency, proposed at the same time to impose +certain limitations on his exercise of the authority, so long as there +was a reasonable hope of his royal father's recovery. He was not to have +the power to create peerages, nor to alienate the property of the crown, +nor to grant offices in reversion; and, as the Queen was to have the +care of his Majesty's person, she also was to have the appointment of +all the offices in the royal household. Fox, on the other hand, objected +with extreme earnestness to the impropriety of imposing any limitations +whatever on the power of the Regent; and then the question whether the +Prince was to derive his right to the Regency from the authority of +Parliament, or from his natural position and inalienable preceding right +as his father's heir, became one of practical importance. If the +Parliament had the right to confer authority, it had clearly the right +to limit the authority it conferred. If the Prince had an indefeasible +right to the Regency, independently of the will of Parliament, then +Parliament could have no pretence to limit or restrain the exercise of +an authority which in no degree flowed from itself. Fox, indeed, took +another objection to the imposing of limitations to the authority to be +intrusted to the Regent, contending that this would be to create a power +unknown to the constitution--a person in the situation of King without +regal power. But, not to mention precedents drawn from the reigns of +Edward III., Richard II., and Henry VI., in the twenty-fourth year of +the very last reign, George II., on the death of his son, the father of +the present King, had enjoined the Parliament to provide for the +government, in the case of his own death, while the heir was still a +minor, recommending to them the appointment of the Princess Dowager of +Wales as Regent, "with such powers and limitations as might appear +expedient." And, in conformity with his desire, the Parliament had +appointed the Princess Regent, with a Council of Regency to assist her; +and had enacted that "several portions of the regal power" should be +withheld from the Regent, if she could not obtain the consent of the +Council thus appointed.[118] + +This part of the case was so plain, that when, after the different +resolutions proposed by Pitt had been adopted in both Houses, Fox +insisted that, instead of proceeding by a bill to create a Regency, and +to appoint the Prince of Wales Regent, the only course which could be +adopted with propriety would be to present an address to the Prince, to +entreat him to assume the government, he failed to induce the House to +agree with him; and finally, as if he were determined to find a +battle-field in every clause, he made a vigorous resistance to the +expedient by which Pitt proposed that the formal royal assent which was +necessary to make the bill law should be given. Fox, on one occasion, +had gone the length of denying that the two Houses had any right to be +regarded as a Parliament while the King, an essential part of +Parliament, was incapacitated. But such an objection could have had no +force, even in the mind of him who raised it, since the proceedings of +the two Convention Parliaments of 1660 and 1689 labored under a similar +defect; and yet their acts had been recognized as valid, and ratified by +subsequent Parliaments. And now, in reference to the expedient proposed +by the minister, that the two Houses should empower and authorize the +Lord Chancellor to affix the Great Seal to the bill, Burke, with great, +but for him not unusual, violence, denounced both the proposal and the +Chancellor, declaring that such a step would be the setting up of a +phantom of sovereignty, a puppet, an idol, an idiot, to which he +disclaimed all allegiance. A more perilous amendment was one proposed to +another clause by Mr. Rolle, enacting that if the Regent should marry a +Roman Catholic his authority should cease. Since the Bill of Rights, as +we have seen, forbade a sovereign to marry a Roman Catholic without +incurring the forfeiture of his crown, it was evidently reasonable that +the same restriction should be imposed on every Regent; but it was hard +at the moment altogether to dissociate such a clause from the +discussions of the preceding year; and Mr. Rolle endeavored to give the +clause a more pointed meaning by an amendment to enact that the +forfeiture should be incurred by the mere celebration of any marriage +ceremony, whether the marriage thus performed were legal and valid or +not. His amendment, however, was unanimously rejected. The bill was +passed without alteration by the House of Commons; the Prince, while +protesting in an elaborate and most able letter, drawn up for him by +Burke, against the restrictions imposed by the bill, nevertheless +consented to sacrifice his own judgment to the general good of the +kingdom, and to accept the authority, limited as it was. And by the +middle of February the bill was sent up to the House of Lords. There +Lord Camden had charge of it, and his position as a former Chancellor +gave irresistible weight to his opinion that the mode proposed to give +the final sanction to the bill was strictly in accordance with the +spirit and practice of the constitution. The point with which he dealt +was the previous one, how Parliament, which was to pass the bill, was to +be opened, for, "circumstanced as it was, Parliament could not at +present take a single step." The law, as he put it, declared that the +King must be present, either in person or by a representative. When he +could not attend personally, the legal and constitutional process was to +issue letters-patent under the Great Seal. In the present dilemma, +therefore, he recommended that the two Houses should direct +letters-patent to be issued under the Great Seal, authorizing +commissioners to open Parliament in the name of his Majesty. He "must +use the liberty to say that those who treated this proposal with +ridicule were ignorant of the laws of their country. A fiction it might +be termed, but it was a fiction admirably calculated to preserve the +constitution, and, by adopting its forms, to preserve its substance." +The authority of the Great Seal he explained to be such that, "even if +the Lord Chancellor, by caprice, put it to any commission, it could not +afterward be questioned;" and he adduced a precedent of a very similar +character to the course now proposed, which occurred "at the +commencement of the reign of Henry VI., when, the sovereign being an +infant of nine months old, the Great Seal was placed in his hand, and it +was supposed to be given to him by the Master of the Rolls, whereupon +many commissions were sealed by it, and the government was carried on +under its authority." That precedent, he reminded the peers, had been +followed as recently as the year 1754, when, during an illness of George +II., Lord Chancellor Hardwicke affixed the Great Seal to a commission +for opening a session of Parliament. And, finally, he concluded by +moving, "That it is expedient and necessary that letters-patent for +opening the Parliament should pass under the Great Seal."[119] The +motion was carried, and Parliament was opened in accordance with it; +and, if it had been necessary, the same expedient would have sufficed to +give the requisite assent to the Regency Bill, a necessity which was +escaped by the fortunate recovery of the royal patient, which was +announced by his medical advisers a day or two before that fixed for the +third reading of the bill in the House of Lords. + +Though the question was thus left undetermined for the moment, it was +revived twenty-two years afterward, when the same sovereign was attacked +by a recurrence of the same disease, and the existing ministry, then +presided over by Mr. Perceval, brought forward a Regency Bill almost +identical with that which on this occasion had been framed by Mr. Pitt; +and the Opposition, led by Lord Grey and Sir Samuel Romilly, raised as +nearly as possible the same objections to it which were now urged by Fox +and his adherents. The ministerial measure was, however, again supported +by considerable majorities; so that the course proposed by Mr. Pitt on +this occasion may be said to have received the sanction of two +Parliaments assembled and sitting under widely different circumstances; +and may, therefore, be taken as having established the rule which will +be adopted if such an emergency should, unfortunately, arise hereafter. +And indeed, though the propriety of Pitt's proposals has, as was +natural, been discussed by every historical and political writer who has +dealt with the history of that time, there has been a general +concurrence of opinion in favor of that statesman's measure. Lord John +Russell, while giving a document, entitled "Materials for a Pamphlet," +in which he recognizes the handwriting of Lord Loughborough, and which +"contains the grounds of the opinion advanced by him, and adopted by Mr. +Fox, that, from the moment the two Houses of Parliament declared the +King unable to exercise his royal authority, a right to exercise that +authority attached to the Prince of Wales," does not suppress his own +opinion of the "erroneousness of this or any other doctrine that +attributes to any individual or any constituted authority existing in +the state a strict or legal right to claim or to dispose of the royal +authority while the King is alive, but incapable of exercising it."[120] + +The only writer, as far as I am aware, who advocates the opposite view +is Lord Campbell, who, after quoting the speech of Lord Camden, from +which extracts have been made, comments on it, and on the whole +transaction, in the following terms: "From the course then adopted and +carried through, I presume it is now to be considered part of our +constitution that if ever, during the natural life of the sovereign, he +is unable by mental disease personally to exercise the royal functions, +the deficiency is to be supplied by the two Houses of Parliament, who, +in their _discretion_, will probably elect the heir-apparent Regent, +under such restrictions as they may please to propose, but who may +prefer the head of the ruling faction, and at once vest in him all the +prerogatives of the crown. On the two occasions referred to in the reign +of George III., the next heir being at enmity with the King and his +ministers, this was considered the loyal and courtly doctrine; and, from +its apparent advancement of the rights of Parliament, there was no +difficulty in casting odium on those who opposed it. But I must avow +that my deliberate opinion coincides with that of Burke, Fox, and +Erskine, who pronounced it to be unsupported by any precedent, and to be +in accordance with the principles of the Polish, not the English, +monarchy. The two Houses of Parliament would be the proper tribunal to +pronounce that the sovereign is unable to act; but then, as if he were +naturally as well as civilly dead, the next heir ought of right to +assume the government as Regent, ever ready to lay it down on the +sovereign's restoration to reason, in the same way as our Lady Victoria +would have returned to a private station if, after her accession, there +had appeared posthumous issue of William IV. by his queen. It is easy to +point out possible abuses by the next heir as Regent, to the prejudice +of the living sovereign; but there may be greater abuses of the power of +election imputed to the two Houses, whereby a change of dynasty might be +effected. I conceive, therefore, that the Irish Parliament[121] in 1789 +acted more constitutionally in acknowledging the _right_ of the next +heir, in scouting the fiction of a commission or royal assent from the +insane sovereign, and in addressing the Prince of Wales to take on +himself the government as Regent." + +Though the sneers at the possibility of Parliament preferring "the head +of the ruling faction" to the heir-apparent be hardly consistent with +the impartial candor which is one of the most imperative duties of an +historical critic, and though the allusion to the principles of the +Polish monarchy be not very intelligible, yet no one will refuse to +attach due weight to the deliberate opinion of one who won for himself +so high a professional reputation as Lord Campbell. But, with all +respect to his legal rank, we may venture to doubt whether he has not +laid down as law, speaking as a literary man and an historian, a +doctrine which he would not have entertained as a judge. For, if we +consider the common law of the kingdom, it is certain that, in the case +of subjects, if a man becomes deranged, his next heir does not at once +enter on his property "as if he were naturally as well as civilly dead." +And if, as in such cases is notoriously the practice, the Court of +Chancery appoints a guardian of the lunatic's property, analogy would +seem to require that the Houses of Parliament, as the only body which +can possibly claim authority in such a matter, should exercise a similar +power in providing for the proper management of the government to that +which the law court would exercise in providing for the proper +management of an estate; and that, therefore, the principles of +constitutional[122] statesmanship, which is deeply interested in +upholding the predominant authority of Parliament, must justify the +assertion of the ministers that the two Houses had the entire and sole +right to make regulations for the government of the kingdom during the +incapacity of the sovereign; and that the next heir, even when a son of +full age, can have no more right to succeed to his father's royal +authority in his lifetime than, if that father were a subject, he would +have to succeed to his estate. + +The opposite doctrine would seem to impugn the legality of the whole +series of transactions which placed William and Mary on the throne. The +admission of an indefeasible right of the heir-apparent would have borne +a perilous resemblance to a recognition of that divine right, every +pretension to which the Revolution of 1688 had extinguished. If, again, +as Fox and his followers at one time endeavored to argue, the Houses in +1789 had no right to the name or power of a Parliament, because the King +had no part in their meetings, the convention that sat a century before +(as, indeed, was admitted) was certainly far less entitled to that name +or power, for it had not only never been called into existence by a +King, but was assembled in direct defiance of the King. Similarly, it is +admitted that the body which invited Charles II. to return and resume +his authority was equally destitute of the validity which could only be +given by a royal summons. Yet both these bodies had performed actions of +greater importance than that which was looked for from this Parliament. +The one had abolished the existing and usurping government, and restored +to his kingdom a King who had been long an exile. The other had, as it +were, passed sentence on the existing sovereign, on grounds which +confessedly will not bear a strict examination, and had conferred the +crown on a prince who had no hereditary claim to the title. The +justification of both acts was necessity. _Salus regni suprema Lex_. And +the necessity was clearly more urgent in the present case than in either +of the preceding instances. For, unless the Parliament interfered to +create an authority, there was absolutely none in existence which was +capable of acting. It should also be remembered that this Parliament of +1789, though not opened for the session by the King, had been originally +elected in obedience to his order, and had been prorogued by his +proclamation to the day of meeting;[123] and, though the opening of a +session by a speech from the throne is the usual form for the +commencement of its proceedings, it may be doubted whether it be so +indispensable a part of them that none of their acts are valid without +it. + +The breaking out of the French Revolution, and the degree in which, in +spite of all its atrocities and horrors, the revolutionary spirit for a +time infected a large party in England, prevented Pitt from reviving the +plan of Reform which he had framed with such care and genius for +organization, and in which, though defeated in Parliament, both before +and after he became minister, he had hitherto continued to cherish the +hope of eventually succeeding. But when clubs and societies, where the +most revolutionary and seditious doctrines were openly broached, were +springing up in London and other large towns, and unscrupulous +demagogues by speeches and pamphlets were busily disseminating theories +which tended to the subversion of all legitimate authority, he not +unnaturally thought it no longer seasonable to invite a discussion of +schemes which would be supported in many quarters only, to quote his own +words, "as a stepping-stone to ulterior objects, which they dared not +avow till their power of carrying them into effect should be by this +first acquisition secured." But the alarm which the spread of +revolutionary ideas excited in his mind was displayed, not only +passively in this abstention from the advocacy of measures the +expediency of which must at all times in some degree depend on the tone +of their introduction, but also in active measures of repression, some +of which were not, indeed, unwarranted by precedent, but others of which +can hardly be denied to have been serious inroads on the constitution, +infringements of the freedom of opinion and discussion to which all +Englishmen are entitled, and one of which was, to say the least, a very +perilous extension of a law already sufficiently severe, the statute of +treason. If the French had been content with the overthrow of their own +government and institutions, much as we should have lamented the +indiscriminate rashness and abhorred the atrocities with which their +design was carried out, we should still have adhered to the +unquestionable maxim, that no nation is justified in interfering in the +internal affairs of another. But the Jacobin and Girondin demagogues, +who had now the undisputed sway in Paris, did not limit their views to +their own country, but openly declared themselves the enemies of all +established governments in every country; and the Convention passed a +formal resolution in which they proffered "fraternity and assistance" to +every people which might be inclined to rise against their governments. +Their resolutions were officially communicated to the sympathizing +societies in England, and emissaries were secretly encouraged to cross +the Channel in the hope of gaining converts. Nor were their exertions +barren. Two men were convicted in Scotland of a plot to seize Edinburgh +Castle, to massacre the garrison, to imprison the judges, and to rise in +arms to compel the government to a change of policy. In London the King +was fired at on his way to open Parliament, and on his return his +carriage was attacked by a furious mob, and was only protected from +serious injury by a troop of the Life Guards. Such outrages proved the +existence of a new danger, against which no previous government had ever +been called on to provide, and such as, in the opinion of the cabinet, +could only be met by novel measures of precaution. + +The first was directed against the foreign propagators of revolution. +The resolutions of the Convention had been promulgated in November, +1792; and at the meeting of Parliament in December, Lord Grenville, as +Foreign Secretary of State, introduced in the House of Lords an alien +bill, to enable the government to deal in a summary manner with any +foreign visitors whose conduct or character might seem to call for its +interference. It provided that all foreigners who had arrived in the +kingdom since the preceding January should give in a statement of their +names and residences; that any one who should arrive in future should +furnish an account of his name, his station in life, and his object in +visiting England; that the King, by proclamation, order in Council, or +sign-manual, might direct all foreigners to reside in such districts as +might be thought suitable; that no one might quit the residence in which +he first settled without a passport; and that the Secretary of State +might order any suspected foreigner to quit the kingdom instantly. + +The act was to be in operation for twelve months, and Lord Grenville, in +introducing it, though he admitted it to be a measure of "rather a novel +nature," explained at the same time that it was so far from being new in +the powers which it gave, that Magna Charta distinctly recognized "the +power and right of the crown to prevent foreigners from entering or +residing within the realm." All that was really new was the defining of +the manner in which that power should be exercised, since it had been so +rarely needed that doubts might exist as to the proper mode of putting +it in action. The bill, which was adopted in both Houses by large +majorities, is remarkable, among other circumstances, from the fact that +its discussion furnished the first instance of a public display of the +difference between the two sections of the Opposition, subsequently +described by Burke in one of his most celebrated pamphlets as the Old +and New Whigs; those whom he called the Old Whigs (the Duke of Portland, +Sir Gilbert Elliott, Mr. Windham, not to mention Burke himself) +earnestly supporting it, while Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan, +and Mr. Grey resisted it with equal zeal. Lord Lansdowne took the ground +that it was a suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act; while Fox and Grey +denounced it, in more general terms, as a measure "utterly +irreconcilable with the principles of the constitution," Mr. Grey +apparently referring chiefly to the power given by the bill to the +Secretary of State to send any foreigners from the country, which he +described as "making the bill a measure of oppression, giving power for +the exercise of which no man was responsible." Sir Gilbert Elliott's +answer was singularly ingenious. He did not deny that the bill conferred +additional power on the crown, though not more than was justified by +existing circumstances; but he maintained that the right of giving +extraordinary powers to the crown on occasions was so far from being +inconsistent with the principles of the constitution, that to grant +extraordinary powers in extraordinary emergencies was a part of it +essential to the character of a free government. If such powers were at +all times possessed by the crown, its authority would be too great for a +free government to co-exist with it; but if such could not be at times +conferred on the crown, its authority would be too small for its own +safety or that of the people. + +The arguments of the ministers were, no doubt, greatly recommended, both +to the Parliament and the people in general, by the notoriety of the +fact that foreign agents were in many of our large towns busily, and not +unsuccessfully, engaged in propagating what were known as Jacobin +doctrines. But, even without that aid, it was clear that every +government must, for the common good of all, be at times of +extraordinary emergency invested with the power of suspending laws made +for ordinary circumstances. And what would be an intolerable evil, if +the supreme magistrate took upon himself to exercise it, ceases to be +one when the right to exercise it is conferred by the nation itself in +Parliament. If the bill did, as was argued, suspend the _Habeas Corpus_ +Act, that statute had been enacted by Parliament, and therefore for +Parliament, in a case of necessity, to suspend its operation was clearly +within the spirit of the constitution. + +The bills affecting our own fellow-subjects were still more warmly +contested. One was known as the Traitorous Correspondence Bill, which, +according to Lord Campbell, was suggested by Lord Loughborough, who had +lately become Lord Chancellor. The old law of high-treason, enacted in +the reign of Edward III., had been in effect greatly mitigated by later +statutes, which had made acts to which that character was imputed more +difficult of proof, by a stricter definition of what was admissible +evidence, and other safeguards; and the practice of the courts had by +degrees practically reduced the list of treasons enumerated in the old +law, indictments for many of the offences contained in it forbearing to +assert that the persons accused had incurred the penalty of +high-treason. But this new bill greatly enlarged the catalogue. It made +it high-treason to hold any correspondence with the French, or to enter +into any agreement to supply them with commodities of any kind, even +such as were not munitions of war, but articles of ordinary merchandise, +or to invest any money in the French Funds; and it enacted farther that +any person who, by "any writing, preaching, or malicious and advised +speaking," should encourage such designs as the old statute of Edward +made treasonable, should be liable to the penalties of high-treason. + +Another bill was designed to check the growing custom of holding public +meetings, by providing that no meeting, the object of which was to +consider any petition to the King or Parliament, or to deliberate on any +alleged grievance, should be held without those who convened it, and who +must be householders, giving previous notice of it by public +advertisement; and empowering any two justices of the peace, at their +own discretion, to declare any such meeting an unlawful assembly, and to +disperse it by force, if, from the subjects discussed, the language +held, or any special circumstances, they should regard it as dangerous. + +Fox, and those who still adhered to him, resisted almost every clause of +these different bills. They maintained that one of the most fundamental +maxims of law "in every country calling itself free was, that property +was in the highest degree entitled to the protection of the law; and, if +so, that the right of disposing of it or investing it in any manner must +be considered under the same protection;" that any interference "with +ordinary commercial transactions was equally repugnant to the spirit of +the constitution;" and, taking a practical view of the question, they +warned the minister that such rigorous enactments imposing such extreme +penalties would defeat their own end; for "it was a general and true +maxim, that excess of punishment for a crime brings impunity along with +it; and that no jury would ever find a verdict which would doom a +fellow-creature to death for selling a yard of cloth and sending it to +France." They protested, too, against inflicting on words, whether +written or spoken, penalties which had hitherto been confined to overt +acts. And the clauses conferring power on magistrates to prevent or +disperse public meetings encountered still more vehement opposition; Fox +insisting, with great eloquence, that "public meetings for the +discussion of public subjects were not only lawful, but agreeable to the +very essence of the constitution; that, indeed, to them, under that +constitution, most of the liberties which Englishmen now enjoyed were +particularly owing." The people, he maintained, had a right to discuss +their grievances. "They had an inalienable right to complain by +petition, and to remonstrate to either House of Parliament, or to the +King; and to make two magistrates, who might be strong partisans, +irresponsible judges whether anything said or done at a meeting had a +tendency to encourage sedition, was to say that a free constitution was +no longer suitable to us." Pitt justified these measures, partly on the +ground of the special and unprecedented danger of the times, as proved +by the late attempt on the King's life, and partly by the open avowal of +republican doctrines made at the meetings of different societies; +partly, also, on the temporary character of the measures, since in each +bill a period was fixed after which its operation should expire. And he +argued, farther, that, as many of the actions specified in these bills +as seditious or treasonable were by many lawyers considered capable of +being reached by statutes already existing, though not universally +understood, it was "humane, not cruel, to remove doubts, and to prevent +men from being ensnared by the ambiguity of old laws." + +And in May, 1794, he brought in another bill, founded on the report of a +secret committee which, in compliance with a royal message, the House of +Commons had appointed to investigate the proceedings and objects of +certain societies which were known to exist in different parts of the +kingdom. In obedience to a Secretary of State's warrant, founded on +sworn informations, their books and papers had been seized, and, having +been sealed up, were now laid before the House, with the report of the +committee that they proved that several of the societies which they +named had, ever since the end of the year 1791, been uniformly pursuing +a settled design for the subversion of the constitution; one society, in +particular, having approved a plan for assembling a Convention, in +imitation of the French Assembly sitting under that title, in order to +overturn the established government, and to wrest from the Parliament +the power which the constitution placed in its hands. + +To prevent the dissemination of such principles, and to defeat such +schemes, Pitt now asked leave to bring in a bill to empower his +Majesty--acting, of course, through the Secretary of State--to secure +and detain such persons as he should suspect of conspiring against the +King's person and government. He admitted that the power which he thus +proposed to confer amounted to a suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act +in every part of the United Kingdom; nor did he deny that it was an +unusually strong measure, but he contended that it was one justified by +absolute necessity, by the manifest danger of such a conspiracy as the +committee had affirmed to exist to the tranquillity of the nation and +the safety of the government. + +Fox, it may almost be said as a matter of course, opposed the +introduction of any such measure; but his opposition was hardly marked +by his usual force of argument. He was hampered by the impossibility of +denying either the existence of the societies which the committee and +the minister had mentioned, or the dangerous character of some of their +designs; but he objected to the measures of repression which were +proposed, partly on the absence of all attempts at concealment on the +part of the promoters of these societies, partly on the contemptible +character of the Convention which it was designed to summon, and the +impossibility that such an assembly should have the slightest influence. +He even made their avowed hostility to the constitution a plea for a +panegyric on that constitution, and on the loyal attachment to it +evinced by the vast majority of the people; and from that he proceeded +to found a fresh argument against the proposed measure, contending that +it made a fatal inroad on that very constitution which was so highly +valued by the whole nation. He described it as a measure "of infinitely +greater mischief than that which it proposed to remedy, since it would +give the executive authority absolute power over the personal liberty of +every individual in the kingdom." He did not deny that a similar measure +had been enacted under William III., again in 1715, and again in 1745; +but he contended that "the present peril bore no resemblance to the +dangers of those times. This measure went to overturn the very +corner-stone of the constitution, and if it passed, there was an end of +the constitution of England." The bill was passed in both Houses by very +large majorities.[124] It was originally enacted for six months only, +but was from time to time renewed till the end of the century. + +If we take a general survey of all these measures together, as parts of +one great defensive scheme for the preservation of the public +tranquillity and the general safety of the empire, it may, probably, be +thought that, though undoubtedly suspensions of the constitution, they +are not open to the charge of being unconstitutional, since they were +enacted, not only for the welfare of the people, but with their consent +and concurrence, legitimately signified by their representatives in +Parliament. It is scarcely consistent with sound reason to contend that +the _habeas corpus_, which had been enacted by Parliament, could not be +suspended by the authority which had enacted it; that the constitution, +which exists for the benefit of the people, could not be suspended by +the people; or to deny, if it was in appearance transgressed by these +enactments, that it was yet transgressed by strictly constitutional +acts, by the decision of the Parliament, to whose power the constitution +prescribes no limits. + +But it is not sufficient that in this point of view these measures may +have been defensible. In judging of their statesmanship, it is almost +equally to be considered whether they were expedient and politic, +whether the emergency or necessity were such as to justify such rigorous +methods of repression. It was fairly open to doubt whether some of them, +and especially the Traitorous Correspondence and the Seditious Meetings +Bills, did not treat as treasonable acts which did not go beyond +sedition, and whether so to treat them were not to invest them with an +importance which did not belong to them. And on this part of the +question the general judgment has, we think, been unfavorable to the +government; and it has been commonly allowed that the Chancellor, whose +advice on legal subjects the Prime-minister naturally took for his +guide, gave him impolitic counsel. In fact, it is well known that these +two acts, to a great extent, failed in their object through their +excessive severity, several juries having refused to convict persons who +were prosecuted for treason, who would certainly not have escaped had +they only been indicted for sedition; and it is deserving of remark that +these two bills were not regarded with favor by the King himself, if the +anecdote--which seems to rest on undeniable authority--be true, that he +expressed satisfaction at the acquittal of some prisoners, on the ground +that almost any evil would be more tolerable than that of putting men to +death "for constructive treason." It must therefore, probably, be +affirmed that these two acts, the Treason Act and the Seditious Meetings +Act, went beyond the necessity of the case; that they were not only +violations of the constitution--which, when the measures are temporary, +as these were, are not always indefensible--but that they were +superfluous, unjust, and impolitic; superfluous, when they proposed to +deal with acts already visitable with punishment by the ancient laws of +the kingdom; unjust, when they created new classes of offences; and +impolitic, as exciting that kind of disapproval of the acts of +government which in many minds has a tendency to excite a spirit of +discontent with and resistance to legitimate authority. And, indeed, it +must be inferred that such was the light in which these measures were +regarded by a statesman who in his general policy was proud to +acknowledge himself Mr. Pitt's pupil, as he was also the most skilful +and successful of his more immediate successors. Twenty-five years +afterward the distress caused by the reaction inevitably consequent on +the termination of twenty years of war produced a political excitement +scarcely inferior to that with which Pitt had now to deal, and seditious +societies and meetings scarcely less formidable; but, as we shall see, +Lord Liverpool, taking warning, perhaps, from the mistake into which Mr. +Pitt was led on this occasion, though compelled to bring forward new and +stern measures of repression, and even to suspend the _Habeas Corpus_ +Act for a time, kept strictly within the lines of constitutional +precedent, and was careful to avoid confounding sedition with treason. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 73: He had been Lord-chamberlain in Lord Rockingham's +administration of 1765. He was now Lord-lieutenant of Ireland.] + +[Footnote 74: In Lord Chatham's or the Duke of Grafton's ministry of +1766, and in the later administration of Lord Rockingham.] + +[Footnote 75: It may be convenient to take this opportunity of pointing +out that, in this administration, Lord Shelburne altered the old, most +unreasonable, and inconvenient arrangement by which the departments of +the two Secretaries of State were distinguished by the latitude, and +called Northern and Southern. By a new division, one took charge of the +home affairs, the other of the foreign affairs. And in 1794 a third +Secretary was added for War, who, by a very singular arrangement, which +continued till very recently, had charge also of the colonies. But, in +the year 1855, the Colonial-office was intrusted to a separate minister; +and in 1858 a fifth Secretary of State, that for India, was added, on +the transfer of the government of that country from the East India +Company to the Crown. When there were only two Secretaries of State, the +rule was that one should sit in each House. At present it is not +_necessary_ that more than one should be a peer, though it is more usual +for two to be members of the Upper House. And it is usual also for the +Under-secretaries to be members of the House to which the +Chief-secretaries do not belong, though this rule is not invariably +observed.] + +[Footnote 76: "Parliamentary History," xxiii., 163.] + +[Footnote 77: The divisions were: 224 to 208, and 207 to 190.] + +[Footnote 78: Lord Stanhope, quoting from an unpublished "Life of Lord +Barrington," compiled by the Bishop of Durham (meaning, I suppose, +Bishop Shute Barrington).--_History of England_, v., 174.] + +[Footnote 79: Even with the first flush of triumph, the night after the +second defeat of Lord Shelburne in the House of Commons, Fox's great +friend, Mr. Fitzpatrick, writes to his brother, Lord Ossory: "To the +administration it is _cila mors_, but not _victoria loeta_ to us. The +apparent juncture with Lord North is universally cried out +against."--Lord J. Russell's _Memorials and Correspondence of C.J. Fox_, +ii., 18.] + +[Footnote 80: Lord J. Russell's "Memorials and Correspondence of C.J. +Fox," ii., 90.] + +[Footnote 81: _Ibid_., p. 118.] + +[Footnote 82: In one division (161 to 137) they had only a majority of +twenty-four.] + +[Footnote 83: In a letter to Lord Northington (Lord-lieutenant of +Ireland), dated July 17, Fox himself mentions that not one of his +colleagues, except the Duke of Portland and Lord Keppel (First Lord of +the Admiralty), approved of it.--_Memoirs of Fox_, ii., 116.] + +[Footnote 84: November 22 he writes to the Duke of Rutland: "The bill +... is, I really think, the boldest and most unconstitutional measure +ever attempted, transferring at one stroke, in spite of all charters and +compacts, the immense patronage and influence of the East to Charles +Fox, in or out of office."--Stanhope's _Life of Pitt_, i., 140.] + +[Footnote 85: The whole paper is given by the Duke of Buckingham, +"Courts and Cabinets of George III," i., 288, and quoted by Lord Russell +in his "Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox," ii., 251. It is +endorsed, "Delivered by Lord Thurlow, December 1, 1783. Nugent Temple."] + +[Footnote 86: "Life of Pitt," i., 148. Lord Stanhope does not pledge +himself to these being "the exact words of this commission, but as to +its purport and meaning there is no doubt." They are, however, the exact +words quoted by Fox in his speech in support of Mr. Baker's resolutions +on the 17th.--_Parliamentary History_, xxiv., 207.] + +[Footnote 87: "Parliamentary History," xxiv., 151-154.] + +[Footnote 88: 95 to 76. "Strange to say, one of the cabinet ministers, +Lord Stormont, president of the council, formed part of the final +majority against the bill."--_Life of Pitt_, ii., 154.] + +[Footnote 89: "Life of Pitt," i., 155.] + +[Footnote 90: "Lives of the Chancellors," c. clix. Lord Thurlow.] + +[Footnote 91: "The Grenville Papers," iii., 374. It may, however, be +remarked, as tending to throw some doubt on Mr. Grenville's statement, +that Lord Campbell asserts that "Lord Mansfield, without entering into +systematic opposition, had been much alienated from the court during +Lord Rockingham's first administration."--_Lives of the Chief-justices_, +ii., 468.] + +[Footnote 92: Vol. ii., pp. 229-232.] + +[Footnote 93: It will be seen hereafter that this doctrine was admitted +in the fullest degree by Sir Robert Peel in the winter of 1884, when he +admitted that his acceptance of office made him alone responsible for +the dismissal of Lord Melbourne, though, in fact, he was taken entirely +by surprise by the King's act, being in Italy at the time.] + +[Footnote 94: Lord John Russell, in his "Memorials of Fox" (ii., 253), +affirms that "Lord Temple's act was probably known to Pitt;" but Lord +Macaulay, in his "Essay on Pitt" (p. 326), fully acquits Pitt of such +knowledge, saying that "he could declare, with perfect truth, that, if +unconstitutional machinations had been employed, he was no party to +them."] + +[Footnote 95: On Lord Effingham's motion, in condemnation of some of the +proceedings of the Commons, which was carried February 4, 1784, by 100 +to 53.] + +[Footnote 96: "Parliamentary History," xxiv., 383-385--debate of January +20, 1784.] + +[Footnote 97: _Ibid_, p. 283--January 12.] + +[Footnote 98: _Ibid_., pp. 251-257.] + +[Footnote 99: "Parliamentary History," xxiv., 478--February 2.] + +[Footnote 100: _Ibid_., p. 663.] + +[Footnote 101: "Parliamentary History," xxiv., 687, 695, 699.] + +[Footnote 102: The numbers were 201 to 189. The week before, on Mr. +Powys's motion for a united and efficient administration, the majority +had been 20--197 to 177. On a motion made by Mr. Coke, February 3, the +majority had been 24--211 to 187. At the beginning of the struggle the +majorities had been far larger--232 to 143 on Fox's motion for a +committee on the state of the nation, January 12.] + +[Footnote 103: 191 to 190.] + +[Footnote 104: From December 19, when Pitt accepted office, to March 24, +when the Parliament was dissolved.] + +[Footnote 105: "Memorials and Correspondence of C.J. Fox," by Earl +Russell, ii., 229, 248.] + +[Footnote 106: _Ibid_., p. 280.] + +[Footnote 107: That of April, 1831, after the defeat of the Government +on General Gascoyne's amendment] + +[Footnote 108: Lord Macaulay, "Miscellaneous Essays," ii., 330.] + +[Footnote 109: Lord Macaulay, essay on William Pitt.] + +[Footnote 110: Alison ("History of Europe," xiii., 971) states the +English force in the Netherlands in 1794 at 85,000 men. Lord Stanhope +calls the English at Minden 10,000 or 12,000.] + +[Footnote 111: An eminent living writer (Mr. Leeky, "History of +England," ii., 474) quotes with apparent approval another comparison +between the father and son, made by Grattan, in the following words: +"The father was not, perhaps, so good a debater as his son, but was a +much better orator, a greater scholar, and a far greater man." The first +two phrases in this eulogy may, perhaps, balance one another; though, +when Mr. Lecky admits that "Lord Chatham's taste was far from pure, and +that there was much in his speeches that was florid and meretricious, +and not a little that would have appeared absurd bombast but for the +amazing power of his delivery," he makes a serious deduction from his +claim to the best style of eloquence which no one ever made from the +speeches of his son. But Grattan's assertion that the man who, as his +sister said of him, knew but two books, the "AEneid" and the "Faerie +Queene," was superior in scholarship to one who, with the exception of +his rival, Fox, had probably no equal for knowledge of the great authors +of antiquity in either House of Parliament, is little short of a +palpable absurdity. We may, however, suspect that Grattan's estimate of +the two men was in some degree colored by his personal feelings. With +Lord Chatham he had never been in antagonism. On one great subject, the +dispute with America, he had been his follower and ally, advocating in +the Irish House of Commons the same course which Chatham upheld in the +English House of Peers. But to Pitt he had been almost constantly +opposed. By Pitt he and his party, whether in the English, or, so long +as it lasted, in the Irish Parliament, had been repeatedly defeated. The +Union, of which he had been the indefatigable opponent, and to which he +was never entirely reconciled, had been carried in his despite; and it +was hardly unnatural that the recollection of his long and unsuccessful +warfare should in some degree bias his judgment, and prompt him to an +undeserved disparagement of the minister by whose wisdom and firmness he +had been so often overborne.] + +[Footnote 112: Massey's "History of England," iii., 447; _confer_ also +Green's "History of the English People," vol. iv.] + +[Footnote 113: Hallam ("Middle Ages," ii., 386, 481), extolling the +condition of "the free socage tenants, or English yeomanry, as the class +whose independence has stamped with peculiar features both our +constitution and our national character," gives two derivations for the +name; one "the Saxon _soe_, which signifies a franchise, especially one +of jurisdiction;" and the other, that adopted by Bracton, and which he +himself prefers, "the French word _soc_, a ploughshare."] + +[Footnote 114: Lord Colchester's "Diary," i., 68, mentions that the +officiating clergyman was Mr. Burt, of Twickenham, who received L500 for +his services. Lord John Russell ("Memorials and Correspondence of Fox," +ii., 284-389) agrees in stating that the marriage was performed in the +manner prescribed by the Common Prayer-book. Mr. Jesse, in his "Life of +George III.," ii., 506, gathering, as the present writer can say from +personal knowledge, his information from some papers left behind him by +the late J.W. Croker, says: "The ceremony was performed by a Protestant +clergyman, though in part, apparently, according to the rites of the +Roman Catholic Church." Lord John Russell avoids discussing the question +whether the marriage involved the forfeiture of the inheritance of the +crown, an avoidance which many will interpret as a proof that in his +opinion it did. Mr. Massey's language ("History of England," iii., 327) +clearly intimates that he holds the same opinion.] + +[Footnote 115: Russell's "Life of Fox," ii., 187.] + +[Footnote 116: Fox's private correspondence is full of anticipations +that the Regent's first act will be to dismiss Pitt, and to make him +minister. In a letter of December 15 he even fixes a fortnight as the +time by which he expects to be installed; while Lord Loughborough, who +was eager to possess himself of the Great Seal--an expectation in which, +though well-founded, he would, as it proved, have found himself +disappointed--was led by his hopes to give the Prince counsel of so +extraordinary a nature that it is said that the ministers, to whose +knowledge it had come, were prepared, if any attempt had been made to +act upon it, or even openly to avow it, to send the learned lord to the +Tower. ("Diary of Lord Colchester," i., 28.) In an elaborate paper which +he drew up and read to the Prince at Windsor, he assured his Royal +Highness, speaking as a lawyer, that "the administration of government +devolved to him of right. He was bound by every duty to assume it, and +his character would be lessened in the public estimation, if he took it +on any other ground but right, or on any sort of compromise. The +authority of Parliament, as the great council of the nation, would be +interposed, not to confer but to declare the right. The mode of +proceeding should be that in a short time his Royal Highness should +signify his intention to act by directing a meeting of the Privy +Council, when he should declare his intention to take upon himself the +care of the state, and should at the same time signify his desire to +have the advice of Parliament, and order it by proclamation to meet +early for the despatch of business.... It is of vast importance in the +outset that he should appear to act entirely of himself, and, in the +conferences he must necessarily have, not to consult, but to listen and +direct." The entire paper is given by Lord Campbell ("Lives of the +Chancellors," c. clxx.).] + +[Footnote 117: Hume's account of this transaction is, that the Duke +"desired that it might be recorded in Parliament that this authority was +conferred on him from their own free motion, without any application on +his part; ... and he required that all the powers of his office should +be specified and defined by Parliament."] + +[Footnote 118: "Parliamentary History," xxvii., 803--speech of Mr. +Hardinge, one of the Welsh judges, and M.P. for Old Sarum.] + +[Footnote 119: I take this report, or abstract, of Lord Camden's speech +from the "Lives of the Chancellors," c. cxlvii.] + +[Footnote 120: "Memorials of Fox," ii., 292.] + +[Footnote 121: The proceedings of the Irish Parliament on this occasion +will be mentioned in the next chapter.] + +[Footnote 122: Mr. Hallam (iii., 144, ed. 1832) gives a definition of +the term "unconstitutional" which seems rather singular: "By +unconstitutional, as distinguished from 'illegal,' I mean a novelty of +much importance, tending to endanger the established laws." May not the +term rather be regarded as referring to a distinct class of acts--to +those at variance with the recognized _spirit_ of the constitution or +principles of government, with the preservation of the liberties of the +people, as expressed or implied in the various charters, etc., but not +forbidden by the express terms of any statute?] + +[Footnote 123: The entry in the "Parliamentary History," November 20, +1788, is: "Both Houses met pursuant to the last prorogation. Later +meetings were in consequence of successive adjournments."] + +[Footnote 124: In the Commons by 183 to 33; in the Lords by 119 to 11.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +The Affairs of Ireland.--Condition of the Irish Parliament.--The +Octennial Bill.--The Penal Laws.--Non-residence of the Lord- +lieutenant.--Influence of the American War on Ireland.--Enrolment of the +Volunteers.--Concession of all the Demands of Ireland.--Violence of the +Volunteers.--Their Convention.--Violence of the Opposition in +Parliament: Mr. Brownlow, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Flood.--Pitt's Propositions +Fail.--Fitzgibbon's Conspiracy Bill.--Regency Question.--Recovery of the +King.--Question of a Legislative Union.--Establishment of Maynooth +College.--Lord Edward Fitzgerald.--Arguments for and against the +Union.--It passes the Irish Parliament.--Details of the Measure.-- +General Character of the Union.--Circumstances which Prevented +its Completeness. + + +In describing the condition of Ireland and the feelings of its people, +in the latter years of the reign of George II., Mr. Hallam has fixed on +the year 1753 as that in which the Irish Parliament first began to give +vent to aspirations for equality with the English Parliament in audible +complaints; and the Irish House of Commons, finding the kingdom in the +almost unprecedented condition of having "a surplus revenue after the +payment of all charges," took steps to vindicate that equality by a sort +of appropriation bill. + +There were, however, three fundamental differences between the +Parliaments of the two countries, which, above all others, stood in the +way of such equality as the Irish patriots desired: the first, that by a +law as old as the time of Henry VII., and called sometimes the Statute +of Drogheda, from the name of the town in which it was first +promulgated, and sometimes Poynings' Act, from the name of Sir Henry +Poynings, the Lord-deputy at the time, no bill could be introduced into +the Irish Parliament till it had received the sanction of the King and +Privy Council in England; the second, that the Parliament lasted for the +entire life of the King who had summoned it--a regulation which caused a +seat in the House of Commons to be regarded almost as a possession for +life, and consequently enormously increased the influence of the patrons +of boroughs, some of whom could return a number of members such as the +mightiest borough monger in England could never aspire to equal.[125] +The third difference, of scarcely inferior importance, was, that the +Parliament only sat in alternate years. But, though these arrangements +suited the patrons and the members of the House of Commons, it was not +strange that the constituencies, whose power over their representatives +was almost extinguished by them, regarded them with less complacency, +and, at the general election which was the consequence of the accession +of George III., pledges were very generally exacted from the candidates +that, if elected, they would endeavor to procure the passing of a +septennial act like that which had been the law in England ever since +the early years of George I. A bill with that object was introduced in +1761, and reported on not unfavorably as to its principle by the English +law advisers to whom the Privy Council referred it. But, as if it had +been designed to exemplify in the strongest possible manner the national +propensity for making blunders, it contained one clause which rendered +it not only impracticable but ridiculous. The clause provided that no +member should take his seat or vote till his qualification had been +proved before the Speaker in a full house. But the Speaker could not be +chosen till the members had established their right of voting, so that +the whole was brought to a dead-lock, and the bill, if passed, could +never have been carried out. + +In the ministry of 1767, however--that of the Duke of Grafton and Lord +Chatham--Lord Halifax was replaced at Dublin Castle by Lord Townsend, +who, among his other good qualities, deserves specially honorable +mention as the first Lord-lieutenant who made residence in Dublin his +rule on principle; for till very lately non-residence had been the rule +and residence the exception, a fact which is of itself a melancholy but +all-sufficient proof of the absolute indifference to Irish interests +shown by all classes of English statesmen. And under his government a +bill for shortening Parliaments was passed, though it fixed the possible +duration of each Parliament at eight years instead of seven, the +variation being made to prevent a general election from being held at +the same time in both countries, but, according to common belief, solely +in order to keep up a mark of difference between the Irish and English +Parliaments. And those who entertained this suspicion fancied they saw a +confirmation of it in the retention of the regulation that the Irish +Parliament should only sit in alternate years, a practice wholly +inconsistent with any proper idea of the duties and privileges of a +Parliament such as prevailed on this side of the Channel; since a +Parliament whose sessions were thus intermittent could not possibly +exercise that degree of supervision over the revenue, either in its +collection or its expenditure, which is among its most important duties. +And the continued maintenance of this practice must be regarded farther +as a proof that the English legislators had not yet learned to consider +Ireland as an integral part of the kingdom, entitled in every particular +to equal rights with England and Scotland. Indeed, it is impossible for +any Englishman to contemplate the history of the treatment of Ireland by +the English legislators, whether Kings, ministers, or Parliaments, for +more than a century and a half, without equal feelings of shame at the +injustice and wonder at the folly of their conduct. Not only was Ireland +denied freedom of trade with England (a denial as inconsistent not only +with equity but also with common-sense as if Windsor had been refused +free trade with London),[126] but Irish manufactures were deliberately +checked and suppressed to gratify the jealous selfishness of the English +manufacturers. Macaulay, in his zeal for the memory of William III., has +not scrupled to apologize for, if not to justify, the measures +deliberately sanctioned by that sovereign for the extinction of the +Irish woollen manufactures, on the ground that Ireland was not a sister +kingdom, but a colony; that "the general rule is, that the English +Parliament is competent to legislate for all colonies planted by English +subjects, and that no reason existed for considering the case of the +colony in Ireland as an exception."[127] There is, perhaps, no passage +in his whole work less to his credit. But, if such was the spirit in +which an English historian could write of Ireland in the latter half of +this present century, it may, perhaps, diminish our wonder at the +conduct of our legislators in an earlier generation. + +The penal laws on the subject of religion were also conceived and +carried out in a spirit of extraordinary rigor and injustice. By far the +larger portion of the Irish population still adhered to the Roman +Catholic faith; but, as far as the negative punishment of restrictions +and disabilities could go, its profession was visited as one of the most +unpardonable of offences. No Roman Catholic could hold a commission in +the army, nor be called to the Bar, nor practise as an attorney; and +when it was found that a desire to devote themselves to the study of the +law had led many gentlemen to acknowledge a conversion to Protestantism, +a statute was actually passed to require them to prove their sincerity +by five years' adherence to their new form of religion before they could +be regarded as having washed off the defilement of their old heresy +sufficiently to be thought worthy to wear a gown in the Four Courts. No +Roman Catholic might keep a school; while a strange refinement of +intolerance had added a statute prohibiting parents from sending their +children to Roman Catholic Schools in a foreign country. + +And the manner in which the government was carried on was, if possible, +worse even than the principle. The almost continual absence of the +Lord-lieutenant inevitably left the chief management of the details in +the hands of underlings, and the favor of the Castle was only to be +acquired by the lowest time-serving, of which those who could influence +elections, wealthy and high-born as they for the most part were, were +not more innocent than the representatives. No support to government +could be looked for from either peer or commoner unless it were +purchased by bribes more or less open, which it was equally +discreditable to ask and to grant; for one of the worst fruits of the +system which had so long reigned throughout the island was the general +demoralization of all classes. Mr. Fronde gives George III. himself the +credit of being the first person who resolutely desired to see a change +of the system, and to "try the experiment whether Ireland might not be +managed by open rectitude and real integrity."[128] But his first +efforts were baffled by the carelessness or incompetency of the +Viceroys, since it was difficult to find any man of ability who would +undertake the office. And for some years things went on with very little +change, great lords of different ranks having equally no object but that +of controlling the Castle and engrossing the patronage of the +government, and in not a few instances of also procuring large grants or +pensions for themselves, each seeking to build up an individual +influence which no Viceroy could ever have withstood, had they been +united instead of being separated by mutual jealousies, which enabled +him from time to time to play off one against the other. + +But the war with the North American Colonies, which broke out in 1774, +by some of its indirect consequences brought about a great change in the +affairs of Ireland. The demand for re-enforcements to the armies engaged +in America could only be met by denuding the British islands themselves +of their necessary garrisons. No part of them was left so undefended as +the Irish coast; and, after a time, the captains of some of the American +privateers, learning how little resistance they had to fear, ventured +into St. George's Channel, penetrated even into the inland waters, and +threatened Carrickfergus and Belfast. In matters of domestic policy it +was possible to procrastinate, to defer deciding on relaxations of the +penal laws or the removal of trade restrictions, but to delay putting +the country into a state of defence against an armed enemy for a single +moment was not to be thought of; yet the government was powerless. Of +the regular army almost every available man was in, or on his way to, +America, and the most absolute necessity, therefore, compelled the Irish +to consider themselves as left to their own resources for defence. It +was as impossible to levy a force of militia as one of regular troops, +for the militia could not be embodied without great expense; and the +finances of the whole kingdom had been so mismanaged that money was as +hard to procure as men. In this emergency several gentlemen proposed to +the Lord-lieutenant to raise bodies of volunteers. The government, +though reluctant to sanction the movement, could see no alternative, +since the presence of an armed force of some kind was indispensable for +the safety of the island. The movement grew rapidly; by the summer of +1779 several thousand men were not only under arms, but were being +rapidly drilled into a state of efficiency, and had even established +such a reputation for strength, that, when in the autumn the same +privateers that had been so bold in Belfast Lough the year before +reached the Irish coast, in the hope of plundering Limerick or Galway, +they found the inhabitants of the district well prepared to receive +them, and did not venture to attempt a descent on any part of the +island. And, when the Parliament met in October, some of the members, +who saw in the success that could not be denied to have attended their +exertions an irresistible means of strengthening the rising pretensions +of Ireland to an equality of laws and freedom with England, moved votes +of thanks in both Houses to the whole body of Volunteers. They were +carried by acclamation, and the Volunteers of the metropolis lined the +streets between the Parliament House and the Castle when, according to +custom, the members of the two Houses marched in procession to present +their addresses to the Lord-lieutenant. Such a recognition of the power +of this new force stimulated those members who claimed in a special +degree the title of Friends of Ireland to greater exertion. A wiser +government than that of Lord North would have avoided giving occasion +for the existence of a force which the utter absence of any other had +made masters of the situation. The Volunteers even boasted that they had +been called into existence by English misgovernment. In the words of one +of their most eloquent advocates, "England had sown her laws like +dragons' teeth, and they had sprung up as armed men." + +Ireland began to feel that she was strong, and, not unnaturally desired +to avail herself of that strength, which England now could not question, +to put forward demands for concessions which in common fairness could +not well be denied. In 1778, when Lord North, in the hope of recovering +the allegiance of the North American Colonies, brought forward what he +termed his conciliatory propositions, the Irish members began to press +their demand that the advantages thus offered to the Americans should be +extended to their own countrymen also; that the fact of the Irish not +having rebelled should not be made a plea for treating them worse than +those who had; and in the front of all their requests was one for the +abolition of those unjust and vexatious duties which shackled their +trade and manufactures. But the jealousy of the English and Scotch +manufacturers was still as bitter, and, unhappily, still as influential, +as it had proved in the time of William III. And, to humor the grasping +selfishness of Manchester and Glasgow, Lord North met the demands of the +Irish with a refusal of which every word of his speech on the +propositions to America was the severest condemnation, and which he +sought to mitigate by some new regulations in favor of the linen trade, +to which the English and Scotch manufacturers made no objection, since +they had no linen factories. The Irish, in despair, had recourse to +non-importation agreements, of which the Americans had set the example, +binding themselves not to import nor to use any articles of English or +Scotch manufacture with which they could possibly dispense. And the +result was, that Lord North yielded to fear what he had refused to +justice, and the next year brought in bills to grant the Irish the +commercial equality which they demanded. Some of the most oppressive and +vexatious of the penal laws were also relaxed; and some restrictions +which the Navigation Act imposed on commerce with the West Indies were +repealed. But, strange to say, the English ministers still clung to one +grievance of monstrous injustice, and steadily refused to allow judicial +appointments to be placed on the same footing as in England, and to make +the seat of a judge on the bench depend on his own good conduct, instead +of on the caprice of a king or a minister. + +But the manifest reluctance with which the English government had +granted this partial relief encouraged the demand for farther +concessions. The Irish members, rarely deficient in eloquence or +fertility of resource, had been lately re-enforced by a recruit of +pre-eminent powers, whom Lord Charlemont had returned for his borough of +Moy, Henry Grattan; and, led by him, began to insist that the remaining +grievances, to the removal of which the nation had a right, would never +be extinguished so long as the supreme power of legislation for the +country rested with the English and Scotch Parliament; and that the true +remedy was only to be found in the restoration to the Irish Parliament +of that independence of which it had been deprived ever since the time +of Henry VII. They were encouraged by the visibly increasing weakness of +Lord North's administration. Throughout the year 1781 it was evidently +tottering to its fall. And on the 22d of February, 1782, Grattan brought +forward in the Irish House of Commons a resolution, intended, if +carried, to lay the foundation of a bill, "that a claim of any body of +men other than the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland to bind this +kingdom is unconstitutional, illegal, and a grievance." This resolution +aimed at the abolition of Poynings' Act. Other resolutions demanded the +abolition of the "powers exercised by the Privy Council under color of +Poynings' Act," and a farther relaxation of the penal laws. So helpless +did the government by this time feel itself, that the Attorney-general, +who was its spokesman on this occasion, could not venture to resist the +principle of these resolutions, but was contented to elude them for the +time by objections taken to some of the details; and Grattan gave notice +of another motion to bring the question to a more definite decision, +which he fixed for the 16th of April. + +Before that day came Lord North's government had ceased to exist, and +had been replaced by Lord Rockingham's, one most influential member of +which was the most distinguished of living Irishmen, Mr. Burke, who, +while in opposition, had always shown himself a warm supporter of the +claims of his countrymen, and was not likely to have his ardor in the +cause damped by being placed in a situation where he could procure a +friendly hearing to his counsels. Once more they had increased their +demands, requiring, besides the removal of the purely political +grievances, a surrender of the right of appeal from the Irish to the +English courts of law. But their new masters were inclined to grant +everything which seemed requisite to the establishment of complete +equality between the two kingdoms; and though the new ministry was +dissolved in a few months by the premature death of its chief, he lived +long enough to carry the repeal of Poynings' Act, the retention of which +was now admitted to be not only senseless but mischievous, since the +existence of a body invested with nominal dignity, but practically +powerless, was calculated not only to provoke discontent, but to furnish +a lever for agitation. + +The repeal was, however, nothing less than the establishment of an +entirely new constitution in Ireland. The Irish Parliament, the meetings +of which had hitherto been a mere form and farce, was installed in a +position of absolute independence, to grant money or to make laws, +subject to no other condition than that their legislation should be of a +character to entitle it to the royal assent, a condition to which every +act of the British Parliament was likewise and equally liable. +"Unhappily, as an Irish patriotic writer exclaims on this occasion, it +was written in the book of fate that the felicity of Ireland should be +short-lived."[129] And a similar shortness of existence was to be the +lot of the separate independence of her Parliament. Even while framing +instructions for the Lord-lieutenant, in his honest desire to inaugurate +a system of just government for Ireland, George III. had warned him on +no account to "summon a Parliament without his special command."[130] +And, regarded by the light of subsequent events, it can hardly be denied +that the prohibition displayed an accurate insight into the real +difficulties of the country, and also into the character of the people +themselves as the source of at least some of those difficulties. We +ought not to judge its leaders too severely. A nation which has been +long kept in bondage, and is suddenly presented with liberty, is hardly +more able to bear the change than a man immured for years in a dark +dungeon can at once endure the unveiled light of the sun; and +independence had been granted to the Irish too suddenly for it to be +probable that they would at once and in every instance exercise it +wisely. + +All parties were to blame in different degrees. The first danger came +from the Volunteers, who, flushed with self-importance, from the belief +that it was the imposing show of their strength which had enabled the +Parliament to extort Lord Rockingham's concession from the English +Houses, now claimed to be masters of the Parliament itself. With the +termination of the American war, and the consequent return of the +English army to Europe, the reason for their existence had passed away. +But they refused to be disbanded, and established a convention of armed +delegates, to sit in Dublin during the session of Parliament, and to +overawe the Houses into passing a series of measures which they +prescribed, and which included a Parliamentary Reform Bill of a most +sweeping character. On this occasion, however, the House of Commons +acted with laudable firmness. Led by Mr. Fitzgibbon, a man of great +powers, and above all suspicion of corruptibility, it spurned the +dictation of an unauthorized body, and rejected the Reform Bill, +avowedly on the ground of its being presented to it "under the mandate +of a military congress;" and the Convention, finding itself powerless to +enforce its mandates, dissolved. + +But the difficulties of the government were not over with the +suppression of the Volunteer Convention. The Lord-lieutenant had a +harder, because a more enduring, contest to encounter with the +Parliament and the patrons of the boroughs. A single act of Parliament +may substitute a new law for an old one; but no one resolution or bill +has a magical power to extinguish long habits of jobbery and corruption. +Members and patrons alike seemed to regard the late concessions as +chiefly valuable on account of the increased value which it enabled them +to place on their services to the government; and one cannot read +without a feeling of shame that one or two of the bishops who were wont +to be regarded as the proprietors of the seats for their diocesan +cities, were not behind the most nameless lay boroughmongers in the +resolution they evinced make a market of their support of the +government. The consequence was that the government was unable to feel +confident of its power to carry any measure except at a price that it +was degrading to pay; while of those few members who were above all +suspicion of personal corruption, many were so utterly wrong-headed, and +had their minds so filled with unreasonable jealousy for what they +called the honor and dignity of Ireland, and with a consequent distrust +of England and of all Englishmen, that their honest folly was even a +greater obstacle to wise and good government than the mean cunning of +the others. There can hardly be a more striking proof of the +difficulties to be overcome by a minister than is furnished by a speech +made by a gentleman of the highest character, and of deservedly wide +influence in the Northern counties, Mr. Brownlow, of Lurgan, one of the +members for Armagh, which is quoted by Mr. Froude.[131] + +Pitt was painfully conscious of the commercial injustice with which +hitherto Ireland had always been treated, and in the very first year of +his administration he applied himself to the removal of the most +mischievous of the grievances of which the Irish merchants complained, +adopting to a great extent a scheme which had been put before him by one +of the most considerable gentlemen of that body, which was based on the +principle of equalization of duties in both countries. It is unnecessary +here to enter into the details of the measure which he introduced into +the House of Commons. He avowed it to be the commencement of a new +system of government for Ireland, "a system of a participation and +community of benefits, a system of equality and fairness, which, without +tending to aggrandize one portion of the empire or to depress the other, +should seek the aggregate interest of the whole; it was a substitute for +the system which had hitherto been adopted of making the smaller country +completely subordinate to and subservient to the greater, of making the +smaller and poorer country a mere instrument for the advantage of the +greater and wealthier one. He, therefore, proposed now to create a +situation of perfect commercial equality, in which there was to be a +community of benefits, and also to some extent a community of burdens." +And he urged the House to "adopt that system of trade with Ireland that +would tend to enrich one part of the empire without impoverishing the +other, while it would give strength to both; that, like mercy, the +favorite attribute of Heaven, + + "'Is twice blessed-- + It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.'" + +It might, he said, be regarded as "a treaty with Ireland by which that +country would be put on a fair, equal, and impartial footing with Great +Britain, in point of commerce, with respect to foreign countries and our +colonies." The community of burdens which his measure would impose on +Ireland was this: that whenever the gross hereditary revenue of Ireland +should exceed L650,000 (an amount considerably in excess of anything it +had ever yet reached), the excess should be applied to the support of +the fleet of the United Kingdom. It was, in fact, a burden that could +have no existence at all until the Irish trade had become far more +flourishing and productive than as yet it had ever been. Yet a measure +conceived in such a spirit of liberality, and framed with such careful +attention to the minutest interests of Irish trade, Mr. Brownlow did not +hesitate to denounce as one "tending to make Ireland a tributary nation +to Great Britain. The same terms," he declared, "had been held out to +America, and Ireland had equal spirit with America to reject them." He +even declared that "it was happy for Mr. Orde" (the Chief Secretary, who +had introduced the measure into the Irish House of Commons) "that he was +in a country remarkable for humanity. Had he proposed such a measure in +a Polish Diet, he would not have lived to carry back an answer to his +master. If," he concluded, "the gifts of Britain are to be accompanied +with the slavery of Ireland, I will never be a slave to pay tribute; I +will hurl back her gifts with scorn." Baffled by such frantic and +senseless opposition, Pitt condescended to remodel his measure. In its +new form it was not so greatly for the advantage of Ireland. He had been +constrained to admit some limitation of his original liberality by the +opposition which, it had met with in England also where Fox, at all +times an avowed enemy of freedom of trade, had made himself the +mouth-piece of the London and Liverpool merchants, who could not see, +without the most narrow-minded apprehension, the monopoly of the trade +with India and the West Indies, which they had hitherto enjoyed, +threatened by the admission of Ireland to its benefits. And now a clause +in the second bill, binding the Irish Parliament to reenact the +Navigation Laws existing in England, called up an opposition from +Grattan[132] as furious as that with which Mr. Brownlow had denounced +the original measure. To demand the enactment of the English Navigation +Law, he declared, was "a revocation of the constitution;" and his rival, +Flood, in his zeal to emulate his popularity with the mob, surpassing +him in vehemence, inveighed against the clause, as one intended to make +the Irish Parliament a mere register of the English Parliament, "which +it should never become". All the arguments brought forward in favor of +the measure by the supporters of the government--arguments which, +probably, no one would now be found to deny to have been +unanswerable--failed to make the slightest impression on a House in +which the chief object of each opponent of the ministry seemed to be to +outrun his fellows in violence; and eventually the measure fell to the +ground, and for fifteen years more Ireland was deprived of the +advantages which had been intended for her. + +And even yet the danger from the Volunteers was not wholly extinguished. +Though their Convention had been suppressed, its leaders had only +changed their tactics. Under the guidance of a Dublin ironmonger, named +Napper Tandy, they now proposed to convene a Congress, to consist, not, +as before, of delegates from the Volunteer body, but of persons who +should be representatives of the entire nation; and Tandy had even the +audacity to issue circulars to the sheriffs of the different counties, +to require them, in their official capacity, to summon the people to +return representatives to this Congress. The Sheriff of Dublin, a man of +the name of O'Reilly, obeyed the requisition; but Fitzgibbon, who, +luckily, was now Attorney-general, instantly prosecuted him for abuse of +his office. He was convicted, fined, and imprisoned, and his punishment +deterred others from following his example. And a rigorous example had +become indispensable, since it was known to the government that Tandy +and some of his followers were acting in connection with French +emissaries, and that their object was the separation of Ireland from +England, and, in the minds of some of them, certainly the annexation of +the country to France; indeed, on one occasion Fitzgibbon asserted in +the House of Commons that he had seen resolutions inviting the French +into the country. The government would gladly have established a militia +to supersede the Volunteers, but the temper of the Irish Parliament, in +its newly-acquired independence, rendered any such attempt hopeless; and +Mr. Grattan, with a perversity of judgment which his warmest admirers +must find it difficult to reconcile with statesmanship, if not with +patriotism, even opposed with extreme bitterness a bill for the +establishment of a police for Dublin, though he could not deny that +there existed in the city an organized body of ruffians, who made not +only the streets but even the dwelling-houses of the more orderly +citizens unsafe, by outrages of the worst kind, committed on the largest +scale--assaults, plunderings, ravishments, and murders. In the rural +districts of the South the disturbances were so criminally violent, and +so incessant, that the Lord-lieutenant was compelled to request the +presence of some additional regiments from England, as the sole means of +preserving any kind of respect for the law; and more than once the mobs +of rioters showed themselves so bold and formidable, that the soldiers +were compelled to fire in self-defence, and order was not restored but +at the cost of many lives. + +Presently a Conspiracy Bill was passed, and gradually the firmness of +the government re-established a certain amount of internal tranquillity. +But shortly afterward a crisis arose which, more than the debates on the +commercial propositions, or on the Volunteers, or on the police, showed +how over-liberal had been the confidence of the English minister who had +repealed Poynings' Act, and had bestowed independent authority on the +Irish Parliament before the members had learned how to use it. We have +seen how keen a contest was excited in the English Parliament by the +deranged condition of the King's health in 1788, and the necessity which +consequently arose for the appointment of a Regency. Grattan was in +London at the time, where he had contracted a personal intimacy with +Fox, and had been presented by him to the Prince of Wales, whose +graciousness of manner, and profession of adherence to the Whig system +of politics, secured his attachment to that party. Grattan was easily +indoctrinated by Fox with his theory of the indefeasible claim of the +Prince to the Regency as his birthright, and is understood to have +promised that the Irish Parliament should adopt that view. The case was +one which seemed unprovided for. There was no question but that the law +enacted that the sovereign of England should also be the sovereign of +Ireland. But no express law of either country contained any such +stipulation respecting a Regent; and Grattan conceived that, in the +absence of any pre-existing ordinance, it would be easy to contend that +the Irish Parliament was the sole judge who the Regent should be, and on +what terms he should exercise the royal authority. + +The Irish Parliament had been prorogued in 1787 to the 5th of February, +1789, the same day on which, after numerous examinations of the +physicians in attendance on the royal patient, and after the passing of +a series of resolutions enunciating the principles on which the +government was proceeding, Pitt introduced the Regency Bill into the +English House of Commons, being prepared to conduct it through both +Houses with all the despatch that might be consistent with a due +observance of all the forms of deliberation. Grattan's object was to +anticipate the decision of the English Parliament, so as to avoid every +appearance that the Irish Parliament was only following it; and he +therefore proposed that the House of Commons should instantly vote an +address to the Prince, requesting him to take upon himself the Regency +of the kingdom of Ireland, by his own natural right as the heir of the +crown; making sure not only that his advice would be taken by those whom +he was addressing, but that the House of Lords would not venture to +dissent from it. + +Fitzgibbon, as Attorney-general and spokesman of the government in the +Commons, as a matter of course opposed such precipitate action, not only +warning his hearers of the folly and danger of taking a step "which +might dissolve the single tie which now connected Ireland with Great +Britain," but explaining also the whole principle of the constitution of +the two kingdoms, so far as it was a joint constitution, in terms which +give his speech a permanent value as a summary of its principle and its +character. He recalled to the recollection of the House the act of +William and Mary, which declares "the kingdom of Ireland to be annexed +to the imperial crown of England, and the sovereign of England to be by +undoubted right sovereign of Ireland also;" and argued from this that +Mr. Grattan's proposal was contrary to the laws of the realm and +criminal in the extreme. "The crown of Ireland," as he told his hearers, +"and the crown of England are inseparably united, and the Irish +Parliament is totally independent of the British Parliament. The first +of these positions is your security, the second your freedom, and any +other language tends to the separation of the crowns or the subjection +of your Parliament. The only security of your liberty is the connection +with Great Britain; and gentlemen who risk breaking the connection must +make up their minds to a union. God forbid I should ever see that day; +but, if the day comes on which a separation shall be attempted, I shall +not hesitate to embrace a union rather than a separation." + +He proceeded to show that, as the Irish Parliament had itself enacted +that all bills which passed their two Houses should require the sanction +of the Great Seal of England, they actually had no legal power to confer +on the Prince of Wales such authority as Grattan advised his being +invested with, whatever might be the form of words in which their +resolution was couched. He pointed out, also, that if the Irish +Parliament should insist on appointing the Prince of Wales Regent before +it was known whether he would accept the Regency of England, it was +manifestly not impossible "that they might be appointing a Regent for +Ireland being a different person from the Regent of England; and in that +case the moment a Regent was appointed in Great Britain, he might send a +commission under the Great Seal appointing a Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, +and to that commission the Regent of Ireland would be bound to pay +obedience. Another objection of great force to his mind was, that the +course recommended by Grattan would be a formal appeal from the +Parliament of England to that of Ireland. It would sow the seeds of +dissension between the Parliaments of the two countries. And, indeed, +those who were professing themselves advocates for the independence of +the Irish crown were advocates for its separation from England." + +But the House was too entirely under the influence of Grattan's +impassioned eloquence for Fitzgibbon's more sober arguments to be +listened to. The address proposed by Grattan was carried by acclamation; +and the peers were scarcely less unanimous in its favor, one of the +archbishops even dilating on "the duty of availing themselves of the +opportunity of asserting the total independence of Ireland." Even when, +on a second discussion as to the mode in which the address was to be +presented to the Prince, Fitzgibbon reported that he had consulted the +Chancellor and all the judges, and that they were unanimously of opinion +that, till the Regency Bill should be passed in England, the address was +not only improper but treasonable, he found his warning equally +disregarded. And when the Lord-lieutenant refused to transmit the +address to England, on the avowed ground of its illegality, Grattan +proposed and carried three resolutions: the first, that the address was +not illegal, but that, in addressing the Prince to take on himself the +Regency, the Parliament of Ireland had exercised an undoubted right; the +second, that the Lord-lieutenant's refusal to transmit the address to +his Royal Highness was ill-advised and unconstitutional; the third, that +a deputation from the two Houses should go to London, to present the +address to the Prince. Mr. Fronde affirms that the deputation, even when +preparing to sail for England, was very irresolute and undecided whether +to present the address or not, from a reasonable fear of incurring the +penalties of treason, to which the lawyers pronounced those who should +present it liable. But their courage was not put to the test. As has +been already seen, before the end of the month the King's recovery was +announced, and the question of a Regency did not occur again till the +Irish Parliament had been united to the English. + +Since Lord Rockingham's concessions, in 1782, the project of a +legislative union between the two countries, resembling that which +united Scotland to England, had more than once been broached. We have +seen it alluded to by Fitzgibbon in the course of these discussions, and +it was no new idea. It had been discussed even before the union with +Scotland was completed, and had then been regarded in Ireland with +feelings very different from those which prevailed at a later period. +Ten years after the time of which we are speaking, Grattan denounced the +scheme with almost frantic violence. Fitzgibbon (though after the +Rebellion he recommended it as indispensable) as yet regarded it only as +an alternative which, though he might eventually embrace it, he should +not accept without extreme reluctance. But at the beginning of the +century all parties among the Protestant Irish had been eager for it, +and even the leading Roman Catholics had been not unwilling to acquiesce +in it. Unluckily, the English ministers were unable to shake off the +influence of the English manufacturers; and they, in another development +of the selfish and wicked jealousy which had led them in William's reign +to require the suppression of the Irish woollen manufacture, now, in +Anne's, rose against the proposal of a legislative union.[133] In +blindness which was not only fatal but suicidal also, "they persuaded +themselves that the union would make Ireland rich, and that England's +interest was to keep her poor;" as if it had been possible for one +portion of the kingdom to increase in prosperity without every other +portion benefiting also by the improvement. + +However, in the reign of Anne the union was a question only of +expediency or of wisdom. The wide divergence of the two Parliaments on +this question of the Regency transformed it into a question of +necessity. The King might have a relapse; the Irish Parliament, on a +recurrence of the crisis, might re-affirm its late resolutions; might +frame another address to the Prince of Wales; and there might be no +alternative between seeing two different persons Regents of England and +Ireland, or, what would be nearly the same thing, seeing the same person +Regent of the two countries on different grounds, and exercising a +different authority. + +And if these proceedings of the Irish Parliament had wrought in the mind +of the great English minister a conviction of the absolute necessity of +preventing a recurrence of such dangers by the only practicable means +open to him--the fusion of it into one body with the English Parliament +by a legislative union--the occurrences of the ensuing ten years +enforced that conviction with a weight still more irresistible. It has +been seen how stirring an influence the revolutionary fever engendered +by the overthrow of the French monarchy for a time exerted even over the +calmer temper of Englishmen. In Ireland, where, ever since Sarsfield and +his brave garrison enlisted under the banner of Louis XIV., a connection +more or less intimate with France had been constantly kept up, the +events in Paris had produced a far deeper and wider effect. More than +one demagogue among the Volunteers had avowed a desire to see the whole +country transfer its allegiance from the English to the French +sovereign; and this preference was more pronounced after the triumph of +democracy in the French capital. For the leaders of the movement, +themselves nearly all men of the lowest degree, denounced the Irish +nobles with almost as much vehemence as the English connection. + +Yet Pitt's policy, dictated partly by a spirit of conciliation, and +still more by feelings of justice, was gradually removing many of the +grievances of which the Irish had real reason to complain. Next to the +restrictions on trade, nothing had made such an impression on his mind +as the iniquity of the penal laws; and those he proceeded to repeal, +encouraging the introduction of bills to throw open the profession of +the law to Roman Catholics, to allow them seats on the magistrates' +bench and commissions in the army, and to grant them the electoral +franchise, a concession which he himself would willingly have extended +by admitting them to Parliament itself. But these relaxations of the old +Penal Code, important as they were, only conciliated the higher classes +of the Roman Catholics. Most of the Roman Catholic prelates, and most of +the Roman Catholic lay nobles, proclaimed their satisfaction at what had +been done, and their good-will toward the minister who had done it; but +the professional agitators were exasperated rather than conciliated at +finding so much of the ground on which they had rested cut from beneath +their feet. So desirous was Pitt to carry conciliation to the greatest +length that could be consistent with safety, that he held more than one +conference with Grattan himself; but he found that great orator not very +manageable, partly, as it may seem from some of Mr. Windham's letters, +through jealousy of Fitzgibbon, who was now the Irish Chancellor,[134] +and still more from a desire to propitiate the Roman Catholics, for whom +he demanded complete and immediate Emancipation; while Pitt, who was, +probably, already resolved on accomplishing a legislative Union, +thought, as far as we can judge, that Emancipation should follow, not +precede, the Union, lest, if it should precede it, it might prove rather +a stumbling-block in the way than a stepping-stone to the still more +important measure. + +It is not very easy to determine what influence the "Emancipation," as +it was rather absurdly called,[135] if it had been granted at that time, +might have had in quieting the prevailing discontent. With one large +party it would probably have increased it, for there was quite as great +an inclination to insurrection in Ulster as in Leinster or Munster; and +with the Northern Presbyterians animosity to Popery was at least as +powerful a feeling as sympathy with the French Republicans. A subsequent +chapter, however, will afford a more fitting opportunity for discussing +the arguments in favor of or against Emancipation. What seems certain +is, that a large party among the Roman Catholics of the lower class +valued Emancipation itself principally as a measure to another end--a +separation from England. Pitt, meanwhile, hopeless of reconciling the +leaders of the different parties--the impulsive enthusiasm of Grattan +with the sober, practical wisdom of Fitzgibbon--pursued his own policy +of conciliation united with vigor; and one of the measures which he now +carried subsists, unaltered in its principle, to the present day. + +There was no part of the penal laws of which the folly and iniquity were +more intolerable than the restrictions which they imposed on education. +To a certain extent, they defeated themselves. The clause which +subjected to severe penalties a Roman Catholic parent who sent his child +abroad to enjoy the benefits of an education which he was not allowed to +receive at home, was manifestly almost incapable of enforcement, and the +youths designed for orders in the Romish Church had been invariably sent +to foreign colleges--some to Douai or St. Omer, in France; some to the +renowned Spanish University of Salamanca. But the French colleges had +been swept away by the Revolution, which also made a passage to Spain +(the greater expense of which had at all times confined that resource to +a small number of students) more difficult; and the consequence was, +that in 1794 the Roman Catholic Primate, Dr. Troy, petitioned the +government to grant a royal license for the endowment of a college in +Ireland. Justice and policy were equally in favor of the grant of such a +request. For the sake of the whole kingdom, and even for that of +Protestantism itself, it was better that the Roman Catholic priesthood +should be an educated rather than an ignorant body of men; and, in the +temper which at that time prevailed over the western countries of the +Continent, it was at least equally desirable that the rising generation +should be preserved from the contagion of the revolutionary principles +which the present rulers of France were so industrious to propagate. +Pitt at once embraced the idea, and in the spring of the next year a +bill was introduced into the Irish Parliament by the Chief Secretary, +authorizing the foundation and endowment of a college at Maynooth, in +the neighborhood of Dublin, for the education of Roman Catholics +generally, whether destined for the Church or for lay professions. It is +a singular circumstance that the only opposition to the measure came +from Grattan and his party, who urged that, as the Roman Catholics had +recently been allowed to matriculate and take degrees at Trinity +College, though not to share in the endowments of that wealthy +institution, the endowment of another college, to be exclusively +confined to Roman Catholics, would be a retrograde step, undoing the +benefits of the recent concession of the authorities of Trinity; would +be "a revival and re-enactment of the principles of separation and +exclusion," and an injury to the whole community. For, as he wisely +contended, nothing was so important to the well-doing of the entire +people as the extinction of the religious animosities which had hitherto +embittered the feelings of each Church toward the other, and nothing +could so surely tend to that extinction as the uniting the members of +both from their earliest youth, in the pursuit both of knowledge and +amusement, as school-fellows and playmates. If Mr. Froude's +interpretation of the motives of those who influenced Grattan on this +occasion be correct, he was unconsciously made a tool of by those whose +real object was a separation from England, of the attainment of which +they despaired, unless they could unite Protestants and Roman Catholics +in its prosecution. The bill, however, was passed by a very large +majority, and L9000 a year was appropriated to the endowment of the +college. Half a century afterward, as will be seen, that endowment was +enlarged, and placed on a more solid and permanent footing, by one of +the ablest of Pitt's successors. It was a wise and just measure; and if +its success has not entirely answered the expectations of the minister +who granted it, its comparative failure has been owing to circumstances +which the acutest judgment could not have foreseen. + +But it seems certain that neither the concession nor the refusal of any +demands put forward by any party in Ireland could have prevented the +insurrection which broke out shortly afterward. There were two parties +among the disaffected Irish--or it should, perhaps, rather be said that +two different objects were kept in view by them--one of which, the +establishment of a republic, was dearer to one section of the +malcontents; separation from England, with the contingency of annexation +to France, was the more immediate aim of the other, though the present +existence of a republican form of government in France to a great extent +united the two. As has been mentioned before, the original movers in the +conspiracy were of low extraction, Dublin tradesmen in a small way of +business. Napper Tandy was an ironmonger, Wolfe Tone was the son of a +coach-maker. But they had obtained a recruit of a very different class, +a younger son of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a man of +very slender capacity, who, at his first entrance into Parliament, when +scarcely more than of age, had made himself remarkable by a furious +denunciation of Pitt's Irish propositions; had married a natural +daughter of the Duke of Orleans, a prince, in spite of his royal birth, +one of the most profligate and ferocious of the French Jacobins; and had +caught the revolutionary mania to such a degree that he abjured his +nobility, and substituted for the appellation which marked his rank the +title of "Citizen Fitzgerald." He had enrolled himself in a society +known as the United Irishmen, and had gone to France, as its +plenipotentiary, to arrange with Hoche, one of the most brilliant and +popular of the French generals, a scheme for the invasion of Ireland, in +which he promised him that, on his landing, he should be joined by tens +of thousands of armed Irishmen. Hoche entered warmly into the plan, was +furnished with a splendid army by the Directors, and in December, 1796, +set sail for Ireland; but the fleet which carried him was dispersed in a +storm; many of the ships were wrecked, others were captured by the +British cruisers, and the remnant of the fleet, sadly crippled, was glad +to regain its harbors. Two years afterward another invading expedition +had still worse fortune. General Humbert, who in 1796 had been one of +Hoche's officers, did succeed in effecting a landing at Killala Bay, in +Mayo; but he and the whole of his force was speedily surrounded, and +compelled to surrender; and a month afterward a large squadron, with a +more powerful division of troops, under General Hardy, on board, found +itself unable to effect a landing, but fell in with a squadron under Sir +John Warren, who captured every ship but two; Wolfe Tone, who was on +board one of them, being taken prisoner, and only escaping the gallows +by suicide. + +This happened in October, 1798. But it is difficult to conceive with +what object these last expeditions had been despatched from France at +all; for in the preceding summer the rebellion of the Irish had broken +out, and had been totally crushed in a few weeks;[136] not without +terrible loss of life on both sides, nor without the insurgent +leaders--though many of them were gentlemen of good birth, fortune, and +education, and still more were clergy--showing a ferocity and ingenuity +in cruelty which the worst of the French Jacobins had scarcely exceeded; +one of the saddest circumstances of the whole rebellion being, that the +insurgents, who had burnt men, women, and children alive, who had +deliberately hacked others to pieces against whom they did not profess +to have a single ground of complaint beyond the fact that they were +English and Protestant, found advocates in both Houses of the English +Parliament, who declared that the rebellion was owing to the severity of +the Irish Viceroy and his chief councillors, who denied that the rebels +had solicited French aid, and who even voted against granting to the +government the re-enforcements necessary to prevent a revival of the +treason. + +The rebellion was crushed with such celerity as might have convinced the +most disaffected of the insanity of defying the power of Great Britain; +but it was certain that the spirit which prompted the rebellion was not +extinguished, and that, as it had been fed before, so it would continue +to be fed by the factious spirit of members of the Irish House of +Commons, and of those who could return members,[137] so long as Ireland +had a separate Parliament. Not, indeed, that Pitt required the argument +in favor of a Union which was thus furnished. The course adopted by the +Irish Parliament on the Regency question was quite sufficient to show +how great a mistake had been made by the repeal of Poynings' Act. But +what the rebellion proved was, that the Union would not admit of an +instant's delay; and Pitt at once applied himself to the task of framing +a measure which, while it should strengthen England, by the removal of +the necessity for a constant watchfulness over every transaction and +movement in Ireland, should at the same time confer on and secure to +Ireland substantial advantages, such as, without a Union, the English +Parliament could scarcely be induced to contemplate. + +Mr. Hallam, in one of the last chapters of his work,[138] while showing +by unanswerable arguments the advantages which Scotland has derived from +her Union with England, has also enumerated some of the causes which +impeded the minister of the day in his endeavors to render it acceptable +to the Scotch members to whom it was proposed. The most apparently +substantial of these was the unprecedented character of the measure. No +past "experience of history was favorable to the absorption of a lesser +state, at least where the government partook so much of the republican +form, in one of superior power and ancient rivalry." But, in the case of +the present measure, what had thus been a difficulty in the Scotch Union +might have been expected to be regarded as an argument in its favor, +since the keenest patriots among the Scotch had long been convinced that +the Union had brought a vast increase of prosperity and importance to +their country, and what was now confessed to have proved advantageous to +Scotland might naturally be expected to be equally beneficial to +Ireland. Another obstacle had been the fear of the danger to which the +Presbyterian Church might be "exposed, when brought thus within the +power of a Legislature so frequently influenced by one which held her, +not as a sister, but rather a bastard usurper to a sister's +inheritance." But here again experience might give her testimony in +favor of an Irish Union, since it was incontestable that those +apprehensions--which, no doubt, many earnest Scotchmen had sincerely +entertained--had not been realized, but that since the Union the +Presbyterian Church had enjoyed as great security, as complete +independence, and as absolute an authority over its members as in the +preceding century; that the Parliament had never attempted the slightest +interference with its exercise of its privileges, and that the Church of +England had been equally free from the exhibition of any desire to +stimulate the Parliament to such action; while the Roman Catholic +Church, which had many more adherents in England than the Presbyterian +Church had ever had, was quite powerful enough to exact for itself the +maintenance of its rights, and the minister was quite willing to grant +equal securities to those which, at the beginning of the century, had +been thought sufficient for the Church of Scotland. A third reason which +our great historical critic puts forward for the disfavor with which the +Union was at the time regarded by many high-minded Scotchmen, he finds +in "the gross prostitution with which a majority sold themselves to the +surrender of their own legislative existence." That similar means were +to some extent employed to win over opponents of the government in +Ireland cannot, it must be confessed, be denied, though the temptations +held out to converts oftener took the shape of titles, promotions, +appointments, and court favors than of actual money. The most recent +historian of this period--who, to say the least, is not biassed in favor +of either the English or Irish government of the period--pronounces as +his opinion, formed after the most careful research, that the bribery +was on the other side. "Cornwallis and Castlereagh" (the Lord-lieutenant +and the Chief Secretary) "both declared it to be within their knowledge +that the Opposition offered four thousand pounds, ready money, for a +vote. But they name only one man who was purchased, and his vote was +obtained for four thousand pounds. From the language of Lord Cornwallis, +it is certain that if money was spent by the government in this way it +was without his knowledge; but many things may have been done by the +inferior agents of the government, and possibly by Castlereagh himself, +which they would not venture to lay before the Lord-lieutenant. It +appears, however, from the papers which have recently come to light, +that the prevalent belief of the Union having been mainly effected by a +lavish expenditure of money is not well-founded; still it is certain +that some money was expended in this way." Besides actual payment for +votes, he adds that a very large sum--a hundred thousand pounds--is said +to have been expended in the purchase of seats, the holders of which +were, of course, to vote against the measure; and names Lord Downshire +as subscribing L5000, Lord Lismore and Mr. White L3000 each, while the +government funds were chiefly expended "in engaging[139] young +barristers of the Four Courts to write for the Union." But, even if it +were true that corruption was employed to the very utmost extent that +was ever alleged by the most vehement opponent of the measure and of the +government, it may be feared that very few of the last century Irishmen +would have been so shocked at it as to consider that fact an objection +to the Union, especially, it is sad and shameful to say, among the upper +classes. The poorer classes, those who could render no political service +to a minister, as being consequently beneath official notice, were +unassailed by his temptations; but the demoralization of the men of rank +and property was almost universal, and few seats were disposed of, few +votes were given, except in return for favors granted, or out of +discontent at favors refused. And it cannot be denied that the tendency +to political jobbery had not been diminished by the concessions of 1782, +if, indeed, it may not be said that the increased importance which those +concessions had given to the Irish Parliament had led the members of +both Houses to place an increased value on their services. Certainly no +previous Lord-lieutenant had given such descriptions of the universality +of the demands made on him as were forwarded to the English government +by those who held that office in the sixteen years preceding the +outbreak of the Rebellion. + +It is remarkable that the transaction which, as has been said before, +may be conceived to have first forced on Pitt's mind the conviction of +the absolute necessity of the Union--namely, the course pursued by the +Irish Parliament on the Regency Bill--bore a close resemblance to that +which, above all other considerations, had made the Scotch Union +indispensable, namely, the Act of Security passed by the Scottish +Estates in 1703, which actually provided that, on the decease of Queen +Anne without issue, the Estates "should name her successor, but should +be debarred from choosing the admitted successor to the crown of +England, unless such forms of government were settled as should fully +secure the religion, freedom, and trade of the Scottish nation."[140] +The Scotch Estates, therefore, had absolutely regarded the possible +separation of the two kingdoms as a contingency which might become not +undesirable; and, though it was too ticklish an argument to bring +forward, it may very possibly have occurred to Pitt that a similar vote +of the Irish Parliament was not impossible. The claim which Grattan, +following Fox, had set up on behalf of the Prince of Wales, was one of +an indefeasible right to the Regency; and, as far as right by +inheritance went, his claim to the crown, if, or whenever, a vacancy +should occur, was far less disputable. But, as has been mentioned in the +last chapter, a question had already been raised whether his Royal +Highness had not forfeited his right to the succession, and it was quite +possible that that question might be renewed. The fact of the Prince's +marriage to a Roman Catholic was by this time generally accepted as +certain; the birth of the Princess Charlotte gave greater importance to +the circumstance than it seemed to have while the Prince remained +childless; and, if the performance of the marriage ceremony should be +legally proved, and the English law courts should pronounce that the +legal invalidity of the marriage did not protect the Prince from the +penalty of forfeiture, it was highly probable that the Irish Parliament +would take a different view--would refuse, in spite of the Bill of +Rights, to regard marriage with a Roman Catholic as a disqualification, +but would recognize the Prince of Wales as King of Ireland. + +Several minor considerations, such as the desirableness of uniformity in +the proceedings of the two countries with respect to Money Bills, the +Mutiny Act, and other arrangements of parliamentary detail, all pointed +the same way; and, on the whole, it may be said that scarcely any of the +opponents of the government measure were found to deny its expediency, +especially as regarded the interests of Great Britain. The objections +which were made were urged on different grounds. In the Irish House of +Commons, a member who, though a young man, had already established a +very high reputation for professional skill as a barrister, for +eloquence equally suited to the Bar and to the Senate, and for sincere +and incorruptible patriotism, Mr. Plunkett, took upon himself to deny +the competency of the Irish Parliament to pass a bill not only to +extinguish its own existence, but to prevent the birth of any future +Parliament, and to declare that the act, if it "should be passed," would +be a mere nullity, and that no man in "Ireland would be bound to obey +it." And, in the English House of Commons, Mr. Grey may be thought to +have adopted something of the same view, when he proposed an amendment +"to suspend all proceedings on the subject till the sentiments of the +people of Ireland respecting that measure could be ascertained." He did +not, of course, deny (he was speaking on the 21st of April, 1800) that +the bill had been passed by both Houses of the Irish Parliament by +considerable majorities.[141] But he contended that that Parliament did +not speak the sentiments of the people; and, that being the case, that +its voice was of no authority. It is evident that all arguments founded +on a denial of the omnipotence of a Parliament, whether English or +Irish, are invalid. The question of that omnipotence, as has been seen +in a former chapter, had been fully discussed when Mr. Pitt's father +denied the power of Parliament to tax the American Colonies; and that +question may fairly be regarded as having been settled at that time. It +is equally clear that the denial that, on any question whatever, the +House of Commons must be taken to speak the sentiments of the +constituencies, whether the proposal of such question had been +contemplated at the time of their election or not, is the advancement of +a doctrine wholly inconsistent with our parliamentary constitution, and +one which would practically be the parent of endless agitation and +mischief. To expect that the members could pronounce on no new question +without a fresh reference to their constituents, would be to reduce them +from the position of representatives to that of delegates; such as that +of the members of the old States-general, in France, whose early decay +is attributed by the ablest political writers in no small degree to the +dependence of the members on their constituents for precise +instructions. Another argument on which Mr. Grey insisted with great +earnestness is worth preserving, though subsequent inventions have +destroyed its force; he contended that the example of the Scotch Union +did not, when properly considered, afford any argument in favor of an +Irish Union, from the difference of situation of the two countries. +Scotland was a part of the same island as England; "there was no +physical impediment to rapid and constant communication; the relative +situation of the two countries was such that the King himself could +administer the executive government in both, and there was no occasion +for a separate establishment being kept up in each." But the sea lay +between England and Ireland, and the delays and sometimes difficulties +which were thus interposed rendered it "necessary that Ireland should +have a separate government;" and he affirmed that "this was an +insuperable bar to a beneficial Union," quoting a saying of Lord Somers, +that "if it were necessary to preserve a separate executive government +at Edinburgh after the Union, he would abandon the measure." Mr. Grey +even denied that the prosperity of Scotland since the Union was mainly +attributable to that measure. "It was not the Union; it was the adoption +of a liberal policy, the application of a proper remedy to the +particular evils under which the country labored, that removed the +causes which had impeded the prosperity of Scotland." But this argument +was clearly open to the reply that the adoption of that liberal policy +had been a direct effect of the Union, and would have been impracticable +without it, and was, therefore, a strong inducement to the adoption of a +similar Union with Ireland, where the existing evils were at least as +great as those which, a century before, had kept down Scotland. Another +of his arguments has been remarkably falsified by the event. With a +boldness in putting forward what was manifestly, indeed avowedly, a +party objection, and which, as such, must be looked upon as somewhat +singular, he found a reason for resisting the addition of a hundred +Irish members to the British House of Commons in the probability that +they would, as a general rule, be subservient to the minister. He +instanced "the uniform support which the members for Scotland had given +to every act of ministers," and saw in that example "reason to apprehend +that the Irish members would become a no less regular band of +ministerial adherents." It would be superfluous to point out how +entirely contrary the result has been to the prediction. + +It is, however, beside the purpose of this work to dwell on the +arguments by which the minister supported his proposal, or on those with +which the Opposition resisted it, whether apparently founded on +practical considerations, such as those brought forward by Mr. Grey, or +those of a more sentimental character, which rested on the loss of +national "dignity and honor," which, it was assumed, would be the +consequence of the measure. It seems desirable rather to explain the +principal conditions on which the Union was to be effected, as Pitt +explained it to the House of Commons in April, 1800. In the preceding +year he had confined himself to moving a series of resolutions in favor +of the principle, which, though they were adopted by both Houses in +England, he did not at that time endeavor to carry farther, since in the +Irish House of Commons the utmost exertions of the government could only +prevail by a single vote;[142] and he naturally thought such a majority +far too slender to justify his relying on it so far as to proceed +farther with a measure of such vast importance. But, during the recess, +he had introduced some modifications into his original draft of the +measure, which, though slight, were sufficient to conciliate much +additional support; and the consequence was, that in February of this +year both the Irish Houses accepted it by sufficient majorities;[143] +and, therefore, he now felt able to lay the details of the measure +before the English Parliament. To take them in the order in which he +enumerated them, that which had appeared to the Irish Parliament "the +first and most important, was the share which the Irish constituencies +ought to have in the representation of the House of Commons." On this +point, "the Parliament of Ireland was of opinion that the number of +representatives for Ireland ought to be one hundred." And he was not +disposed to differ from the conclusion to which it had come. He regarded +it, indeed, as "a matter of but small importance whether the number of +representatives from one part of the united empire were greater or less. +If they were enough to make known the local wants, to state the +interests and convey the sentiments of the part of the empire they +represented, it would produce that degree of general security which +would be wanting in any vain attempt to obtain that degree of +theoretical perfection about which in modern times they had heard so +much." He approved of "the principle which had been laid down upon this +part of the subject in the Parliament of Ireland--a reference to the +supposed population of the two countries, and to the proposed rate of +contribution. The proportion of contribution proposed to be established +was seven and a half for Great Britain, and one for Ireland; while in +the proportion of population Great Britain was to Ireland as two and a +half or three to one;[144] so that the result, on a combination of these +two calculations, would be something more than five to one in favor of +Great Britain, which was about the proportion which it was proposed to +establish between the representation of the two countries." The +principle of selection of the constituencies which had been adopted he +likewise considered most "equitable and satisfactory for Ireland. The +plan proposed was, that the members of the counties and the principal +commercial cities should remain entire.... The remaining members were to +be selected from those places which were the most considerable in point +of population and wealth.... This was the only plan which could be +adopted without trenching on the constitution; it introduced no +theoretical reforms in the constitution or in the representation of this +country; it made no distinction between different parliamentary rights, +nor any alteration, even the slightest, in the internal forms of +Parliament." + +Another consideration which he had kept in mind in framing this measure +was this: "By the laws of England care had been taken to prevent the +influence of the crown from becoming too great by too many offices being +held by members of Parliament." And Pitt had no doubt that there would +be a general feeling "that some provision ought to be made on this +subject" in the arrangements for the new Parliament. At present, among +the representatives of the counties and great commercial towns, whose +seats were to be preserved in the new united Parliament, there were not +above five or six who held offices; and, though it was impossible to +estimate the possible number of place-holders with precision, he thought +what would he most fair for him to propose would be, that "no more than +twenty of the Irish members should hold places, and that if it should +happen that a greater number did hold places during pleasure, then those +who had last accepted them should vacate their seats." + +In the House of Peers he proposed that twenty-eight lords temporal of +Ireland should have seats in the united Parliament, who should be +elected for life by the Peers of Ireland--an arrangement which differed +from that which, at the beginning of the century, had been adopted for +the representative Peers of Scotland; but he argued, and surely with +great reason, that "the choice of Peers to represent the Irish nobility +for life was a mode that was more congenial to the general spirit and +system of a Peerage than that of their being septennially elected, as +the nobility of Scotland were." Of the spiritual Peers, four were to sit +in rotation; to the lay Peers a farther privilege was given, which the +minister regarded as of considerable, and even constitutional +importance. By the articles of the Scotch Union, a Peer, if not chosen +as a representative of the Peerage, was not eligible as a candidate for +the House of Commons in either England or Scotland. But this bill +"reserved a right to the Peers of Ireland who should not be elected to +represent their own Peerage, to be elected members of the House of +Commons of the united Parliament of Great Britain;" and Pitt urged that +this was "a far better mode of treatment than had been adopted for the +nobility of Scotland; so that a nobleman of Ireland, if not representing +his own order, might be chosen as a legislator by a class of inferior +rank, which he was so far from regarding as improper, that he deemed it +in a high degree advantageous to the empire, analogous to the practice +as well as friendly to the spirit of the British constitution." And he +enforced his argument by pointing out with honest pride the advantage +which in that respect the spirit and practice of our constitution gave +to our nobility over the nobles of other countries. "We know full well," +he continued, "the advantage we have experienced from having in this +House those who, in the course of descent, as well as in hopes of merit, +have had a prospect of sitting in our House of Peers. Those, therefore, +who object to this part of the arrangement" (for, as he had previously +mentioned, it had been made a subject not only of objection, but of +ridicule) "can only do so from the want of due attention to the true +character of our constitution, one of the great leading advantages of +which is, that a person may for a long time be a member of one branch of +the Legislature, and have it in view to become a member of another +branch of it. This it is which constitutes the leading difference +between the nobility of Great Britain and those of other countries. With +us they are permitted to have legislative power before they arrive at +their higher stations; and as they are, like all the rest of mankind, to +be improved by experience in the science of legislation as well as in +every other science, our constitution affords them that opportunity by +their being eligible to seats in this House from the time of their +majority. This is one of those circumstances which arise frequently in +practice, but the advantages of which do not appear in theory till +chance happens to cast them before us, and makes them subjects of +discussion. These are the shades of the British constitution in which +its latent beauties consist;" and he affirmed his conviction that this +privilege would prove "an advantage to the nobility of Ireland, and an +improvement in the system of representation in the House." + +It will hardly be denied that the arrangement that the representative +Peers of Ireland should enjoy their seats for life did make it desirable +that those who were not so elected to the Upper House should be eligible +as candidates for a place in the Lower House. Otherwise, those who were +not chosen as representatives of the peerage would have been placed in +the anomalous and unfair position of being the only persons in the +kingdom possessed of the requisite property qualification, and not +disqualified by sex or profession, who were absolutely excluded from the +opportunity of distinguishing themselves and serving their country in +Parliament. How great the practical benefit to the House of Commons and +the country the clause he was recommending was calculated to confer, was +shown in a remarkable manner the very year of his death, when an Irish +Peer was returned to the House of Commons, who, retaining his seat for +nearly sixty years as the representative of different constituencies, +the University of Cambridge being among the number, during the course of +that period rose through a variety of offices to that of Prime-minister, +and, as is admitted even by those who dissented most widely from some of +his opinions and actions, earned for himself an honorable reputation, as +one who had rendered faithful services to the crown, and on more than +one occasion had conferred substantial benefits on the country. + +The arrangements proposed with respect to the Peers were not opposed. +But Mr. Grey--generally acting as the spokesman of the Opposition on +this question--raised an objection to making so large an addition as +that of one hundred new members to the British House of Commons. He +repeated his prophecy, made on a previous occasion, of the subserviency +to the minister which the Irish members might be expected to exhibit, +and therefore moved an amendment to reduce the number of Irish +representatives to eighty-five; but, to obviate the discontent which +such a reduction might be expected to excite in Ireland, he proposed to +diminish the number of English members also, by disfranchising forty "of +the most decayed boroughs," a step which would leave the number of +members in the new united Parliament as nearly as possible the same as +it was before. He found, however, very few to agree with him; his +amendment was rejected by 176 to 34; and the minister's proposal was +adopted in all its details. + +Mr. Pitt touched lightly on the next article, which limited the royal +prerogative of creating Peers by a provision that the King should never +confer any fresh Irish peerage till three peerages should have become +extinct. This, again, was a point of difference between the conditions +of the Scotch and Irish Unions; since by the terms of the Scotch Union +the King was forever debarred from creating any new Scotch peerages. But +it was pointed out that the greater antiquity of the Scotch peerages, +and the circumstance that in Scotland the titles descended to collateral +branches, were calculated to make the extinction of a Scotch peerage an +event of very rare occurrence; while the comparative newness (with very +few exceptions) of Irish peerages, and the rule by which they are +"confined to immediate male descendants," rendered the entire extinction +of the Irish peerage probable, "if the power of adding to or making up +the number were not given to the crown." + +Recent legislation has given such importance to the next resolution, +that it will be well to quote his precise words: + +"5. That it would be fit to propose, as the fifth article of union, that +the Churches of that part of Great Britain called England and of Ireland +shall be united into one Church; and that when his Majesty shall summon +a Convocation, the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of the several +provinces in Ireland shall be respectively summoned to and sit in the +Convocation of the united Church, in the like manner and subject to the +same regulations as to election and qualification as are at present by +law established with respect to the like orders of the Church of +England; and that the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of +the said united Church shall be preserved as now by law established for +the Church of England, saving to the Church of Ireland all the rights, +privileges, and jurisdictions now thereunto belonging; and that the +doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the Church of Scotland +shall likewise be preserved as now by law, and by the Act of Union +established for the Church of Scotland; and that the continuance and +preservation forever of the said united Church, as the Established +Church, of that part of the said United Kingdom called England and +Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental +article and condition of the Union." + +Pitt's comment on this article was so brief as to show that he regarded +its justice as well as its importance too obvious to need any elaborate +justification. He pointed out that that portion of it which related to +Convocation had been added by the Irish Parliament, and "would only say +on so interesting a subject that the prosperity of the Irish Church +could never be permanent, unless it were a part of the Union, to leave +as a guard a power to the United Parliament to make some provision in +this respect as a fence beyond any act of their own that could at +present be agreed on." But, while he thus showed his conviction that the +permanent prosperity of the Irish Church was essential to the welfare of +the kingdom, he was by no means insensible to the claims of the Roman +Catholic Church (as founded not more in policy than in justice) to be +placed in some degree on a footing of equality with it; not only by a +recognition of the dignity of its ministers, but also by an endowment +which should be proportioned to their requirements, and should place +them in a position of worldly competence and comfort for which hitherto +they had been dependent on their flocks.[145] To use the expression of a +modern statesman, he contemplated "levelling up," not "levelling down." +Perhaps it may be said that he contemplated levelling up, as the surest +and most permanent obstacle to any proposal of levelling down. + +At the same time it is fair to remark, that the argument which on a +recent occasion was so strongly pressed by the champions of the Church, +that it was beyond the power of Parliament to repeal what was here +declared to be "an essential and fundamental article and condition of +the Union," is untenable, on every consideration of the power of +Parliament, and, indeed, of common-sense; since it would be an +intolerable evil, and one productive of the worst consequences, if the +doctrine were admitted that any Parliament could make an unchangeable +law and bind its successors forever; and, moreover, since the very words +of this article do clearly imply the power of Parliament over the +Church, the power asserted, to "make some provision for the permanence +of its prosperity," clearly involving a power to make provisions of an +opposite character. The expediency or impolicy, the propriety or +unrighteousness, of a measure must always depend on the merits of the +question itself at the time, and not on the judgment or intentions of +legislators of an earlier generation. And advocates weaken instead of +strengthening their case when they put forward arguments which, however +plausible or acceptable to their own partisans, are, nevertheless, +capable of refutation. + +The next article related to a question of paramount practical +importance, and of special interest, since, as has been seen before, +there was no subject on which the past legislation of the English +Parliament had been so discreditable. But the jealousy of English +manufacturers, though it had prevailed over the indifference of William +III., who reserved all his solicitude for matters of foreign diplomacy, +could find no echo in the large mind and sound commercial and financial +knowledge of the modern statesman. He laid it down as the principle of +his legislation on this subject--a principle which "he was sure that +every gentleman in the House was ready to admit--that the consequence of +the Union ought to be a perfect freedom of trade, whether of produce or +manufacture, without exception, if possible; that a deviation from that +principle ought to be made only when adhering to it might possibly shake +some large capital, or materially diminish the effect of the labor of +the inhabitants, or suddenly and violently shock the received opinion or +popular prejudices of a large portion of the people; but that, on the +whole, the communication between the two kingdoms should in spirit be +free; that no jealousy should be attempted to be created between the +manufacturers of one place or the other upon the subject of 'raw +materials' or any other article; for it would surely be considered very +narrow policy, and as such would be treated with derision, were an +attempt made to create a jealousy between Devonshire and Cornwall, +between Lancashire and Durham.... He said, then, that the principle of +the Union on this head should be liberal and free, and that no departure +from it should ever take place but upon some point of present +unavoidable necessity." He was even able to add (and he must have felt +peculiar satisfaction in making the statement, since the change in the +feelings of the English manufacturers on the subject must have been +mainly the fruit of his own teaching, and was a practical recognition of +the benefits which they had derived from his commercial policy taken as +a whole), that "the English manufacturers did not wish for any +protective duties; all they desired was free intercourse with all the +world; and, though the want of protective duties might occasion them +partial loss, they thought it amply compensated by the general +advantage." He even thought the arrangements now to be made "would +encourage the growth of wool in Ireland, and that England would be able +to draw supplies of it from thence; and he did not fear that there would +be trade enough for both countries in the markets of the world, and in +the market which each country would afford to the other." The English +manufacturers did not, however, acquiesce very cheerfully in every part +of his commercial arrangements. On the contrary, against the clause +which repealed all prohibitions of or bounties on exportation of +different articles grown or manufactured in either country, they +petitioned, and even set up a claim, which was granted, to be heard by +counsel and to produce witnesses. But Pitt steadily refused the least +modification of this part of his measure, not merely on account of its +intrinsic reasonableness and justice, but because there was scarcely any +condition to which the Irish themselves attached greater importance. + +An equally important and more difficult matter to adjust to the +satisfaction of both Parliaments was the apportionment of the financial +burdens between the two nations. It would be tiresome as well as +superfluous to enter into minute details; the more so as the arrangement +proposed was of a temporary character. After a long and minute +discussion, Pitt's appraisement was admitted to come as near to strict +fairness and equity as any that could be made; the separate discharge of +its public debt already incurred was left to each kingdom; and it was +farther settled that for twenty years fifteen parts of the expense of +the nation out of seventeen should be borne by Great Britain and two by +Ireland. + +Other articles provided that the laws and courts of both kingdoms, civil +and ecclesiastical, should remain in their existing condition, subject, +of course, to such alterations as the united Legislature might hereafter +deem desirable. + +The resolutions, when adopted--as they speedily were--were embodied in a +bill, which passed through the last stage by receiving the royal assent +at the beginning of July. The state of public feeling in Ireland was not +yet sufficiently calmed down after the Rebellion for it to be prudent to +venture on a general election, and it was, consequently, ordained that +the members for the Irish counties and for those Irish boroughs which +had been selected for the retention of representation should take their +seats in the united Parliament on its next meeting. On the 22d of +January, 1801, the united, or, to give it its more proper designation, +the Imperial Parliament held its first meeting, being, although in its +sixth session, so far regarded as a new Parliament, that the King +directed a fresh election of a Speaker. + +The Union, as thus effected, was so far a vital change in the +constitution of both Great Britain and Ireland, that it greatly altered +the situation in which each kingdom had previously stood to the other. +Till 1782 the position of Ireland toward England had been one of entire +political subordination; and, though that had in appearance been +modified by the repeal of Poynings' Act, yet no one doubted or could +doubt that, whenever the resolutions of the two Parliaments came into +conflict, the Irish Parliament would find submission unavoidable. But by +the Union that subordination was terminated forever. The character of +the Union--of the conditions, that is, on which the two countries were +united--was one of perfect and complete equality on all important +points, indeed, in all matters whatever, except one or two of minor +consequence, where some irremovable difference between them compelled +some trifling variations. It was not a connection of domination on the +one side and subordination on the other, where every concomitant +circumstance might tempt the one to overbearing arrogance, while the +other could not escape a feeling of humiliation. It was rather--to quote +the eloquent peroration of Pitt, when, in the preceding year, he first +introduced the subject to the consideration of the House of Commons--"a +free and voluntary association of two great countries, joining for their +common benefit in one empire, where each retained its proportionate +weight and importance, under the security of equal laws, reciprocal +affection, and inseparable interests; and which wanted nothing but that +indissoluble connection to render both invincible." + +On that occasion Pitt had argued, from the great subsequent increase in +the population and wealth of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and in the +prosperity of the whole country of Scotland, that a similar result might +be looked for in Ireland. And the general trade of Ireland, and +especially the linen manufacture, within a very few years began to +realize his prediction. So that it is strange to find Fox, on the great +minister's death, five years afterward, reiterating his disapproval of +the Union as a plea for refusing him the appellation of a great +statesman.[146] In one point alone the intrigues of a colleague +prevented Pitt from carrying out to the full his liberal and enlightened +views, and compelled him to leave the Union incomplete in a matter of +such pre-eminent importance, that it may be said that all the subsequent +disquietudes which have prevented Ireland from reaping the full benefit +he desired from the Union are traceable to his disappointment on that +subject.[147] We have seen that he contemplated, as a natural and +necessary consequence or even part of the Union, an extensive reform of +the laws affecting the Roman Catholics. Indeed, the understanding that +he was prepared to introduce a measure with that object had no small +weight in conciliating in some quarters support to the Act of Union. +Accordingly, when describing the arrangements which he had in view for +the Church of Ireland, he indicated his intention with sufficient +plainness by the statement, that "it might be proper to leave to +Parliament an opportunity of considering what might be fit to be done +for his Majesty's Catholic subjects;" words which were generally +understood to express his feeling, that both justice and policy required +the removal of the restrictions which debarred the Roman Catholics from +the complete enjoyment of political privileges. But the history and +different bearings of that question it will be more convenient to +discuss in a subsequent chapter, when we shall have arrived at the time +when it was partially dealt with by the ministry of the Duke of +Wellington. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 125: Mr. Froude says four great families--the Fitzgeralds of +Kildare, the Boyles, the Ponsonbys, and the Beresfords--returned a +majority of the House of Commons ("English in Ireland," ii., 5); and +besides those peers, the arrangement for the Union proved that the +influence of the Loftuses and the Hills fell little short of them.] + +[Footnote 126: Such a system actually had existed in France, where +articles of ordinary trade could not be transported from one province to +another without payment of a heavy duty; but Colbert had abolished that +system in France above one hundred years before the time of which we are +speaking.] + +[Footnote 127: "History of England," vol. v., c. xxiii., p. 57.] + +[Footnote 128: "The English in Ireland," ii., 39.] + +[Footnote 129: Fronde's "English in Ireland," ii., 345. He does not name +the author whom he quotes.] + +[Footnote 130: _Ibid_., ii, 42.] + +[Footnote 131: See p. 164.] + +[Footnote 132: Mr. Froude imputes to Grattan a singularly base object. +"Far from Grattan was a desire to heal the real sores of the country for +which he was so zealous. These wild, disordered elements suited better +for the campaign in which he engaged of renovating an Irish +nationality."--_English in Ireland_, ii., 448. But, however on many +points we may see reason to agree with Mr. Froude's estimate of the +superior wisdom of Fitzgibbon, we conceive that this opinion is quite +consistent with our acquittal of the other of the meanness of +deliberately aiming at a continuance of evils, in order to find in them +food for a continuance of agitation.] + +[Footnote 133: Froude, "English in Ireland," i., 304.] + +[Footnote 134: See especially a letter of Mr. Windham's. quoted by Lord +Stanhope ("Life of Pitt," ii., 288).] + +[Footnote 135: Mr. Archdall, in his place in Parliament, denounced the +term as utterly inapplicable. "Emancipation meant that a slave was set +free. The Catholics were not slaves. Nothing more absurd had ever been +said since language was first abused for the delusion of mankind."] + +[Footnote 136: The first beginning of the insurrection was at +Prosperous, County Kildare, May 24. General Lake dealt it the final blow +on Vinegar Hill, June 21.] + +[Footnote 137: Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Tierney, and Lord William Russell led +the denunciations of the government in the English House of Commons. A +protest against Pitt's refusal to dismiss the Lord-lieutenant, Lord +Camden, the Chancellor Fitzgibbon, and the Commander-in-chief, Lord +Carhampton, was signed by the Dukes of Norfolk, Devonshire, and +Leinster; Lords Fitzwilliam, Moira, and Ponsonby, "two of them Irish +absentees, who were discharging thus their duties to the poor country +which supported their idle magnificence."--_The English in Ireland_, +iii., 454.] + +[Footnote 138: "Constitutional History," iii., 451 seq.] + +[Footnote 139: Massey's "History of England," iv., 397 (quoting the +Cornwallis correspondence).] + +[Footnote 140: Lord Stanhope's "Reign of Queen Anne," p. 89.] + +[Footnote 141: In the House of Commons by 158 to 115; in the House of +Lords, February 10, by 75 to 26.] + +[Footnote 142: An amendment pledging the House to maintain "an +independent Legislature, as established in 1782," was only defeated by +106 to 105.] + +[Footnote 143: In the House of Commons the majority was 158 to 115; in +the House of Lords, 75 to 26.] + +[Footnote 144: This estimate, which was but a guess, proved very +inaccurate. The first census for the United Kingdom, which was taken the +next year (1801), showed that Ireland was considerably more populous +than its own representatives had imagined. The numbers returned (as +given by Alison, "History of Europe," ii., 335, c. ix., sec. 8) were: + + England..................................... 8,382,484 + Wales....................................... 547,346 + Scotland.................................... 1,599,068 + Army, Navy, etc............................. 470,586 + ---------- + Total...................................10,999,434 + Ireland..................................... 5,396,436 + +So that the proportion of population in Great Britain, as compared with +that of Ireland, only exceeded two to one by an insignificant fraction.] + +[Footnote 145: See his letter to the King, dated January 31, 1801, +quoted by Lord Stanhope in the appendix to vol. iii. of his "Life of +Pitt," p. 25.] + +[Footnote 146: Mr. Fox, called on by Mr. Alexander to explain his +expressions (in the debate relative to Mr. Pitt's funeral), by which he +had declared his disapprobation of the Union, and his concurrence in +opinion with Mr. O'Hara that it ought to be rescinded. Mr. Fox repeated +his disapprobation, but disclaimed ever having expressed an opinion or +entertained a thought of proposing its repeal, that being now +impracticable, though he regretted its ever having been +effected.--_Diary of Lord Colchester_, February 17, 1806, ii., 39.] + +[Footnote 147: It may be remarked that in another respect also political +critics have pronounced the Union defective. Archbishop Whately, whose +long tenure of office in Ireland, as well as the acuteness and candor +which he brought to bear on every subject he discussed, entitle his +opinions to most respectful consideration, held this view very strongly. +In several conversations which he held with Mr. W.N. Senior, in 1858 and +1862, he condemned the retention of the Lord-lieutenancy as "a half +measure," which, however unavoidable at the time when "no ship could be +certain of getting from Holyhead to Dublin in less than three weeks," he +pronounced "inconsistent with the fusion of the two peoples, which was +the object of the Union," and wholly indefeasible "in an age of +steam-vessels and telegraphs." And, besides its theoretical +inconsistency, he insisted that it produced many great and practical +mischiefs, among which he placed in the front "the keeping up in +people's minds the notion of a separate kingdom; the affording a hotbed +of faction and intrigue; the presenting an image of Majesty so faint and +so feeble as to be laughed at and scorned. Disaffection to the English +Lieutenancy is cheaply shown, and it paves the way toward disaffection +to the English crown." And he imputed its continued retention to "the +ignorance which prevails in England of the state of feeling in +Ireland."--_Journals and Conversations Relating to Ireland_, by W.N. +Senior, ii., 130, 251, and _passim_. And it is worthy of observation +that a similar view is expressed by a Scotch writer of great ability, +who, contrasting the mode in which Scotland is governed with that which +prevails In Ireland, farther denounces the Viceroyalty "as a distinct +mark that Ireland is not directly under the sovereignty of Great +Britain, but rather a dependency, like India or the Isle of +Man."--_Ireland_, by J.B. Kinnear, quoted in the _Fortnightly Review_, +April 1, 1881. It is remarkable that in 1850 a bill for the abolition of +the office was passed in the House of Commons by a large majority (295 +to 70), but was dropped in the House of Lords, chiefly on account of the +opposition of the Duke of Wellington. But it is, at all events, plain +that the reasons, arising from the difficulty and uncertainty of +communication, which made its abolition impossible at the beginning of +the century, have passed away with the introduction of steam-vessels and +telegraphs. Communication of London with Dublin is now as rapid as +communication with Edinburgh, and, that being the case, it is not easy +to see how an establishment which has never been thought of for Scotland +can be desirable for Ireland.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +A Census is Ordered.--Dissolution of Pitt's Administration.--Impeachment +of Lord Melville.--Introduction of Lord Ellenborough into the +Cabinet.--Abolition of the Slave-trade.--Mr. Windham's Compulsory +Training Bill.--Illness of the King, and Regency.--Recurrence to the +Precedent of 1788-'89.--Death of Mr. Perceval.--Lord Liverpool becomes +Prime-minister.--Question of Appointments in the Household.--Appointment +of a Prime-minister. + + +The Union with Ireland was the last great work of Pitt's first +administration, and a noble close to the legislation of the eighteenth +century. But the last months of the year were also signalized by another +enactment, which, though it cannot be said to have anything of a +character strictly entitled to the name of constitutional, nevertheless +established a practice so valuable as the foundation of a great part of +our domestic legislation, that it will, perhaps, hardly be considered +foreign to the scope and purpose of this volume to record its +commencement. In November, 1800, Mr. Abbott, the member for Helstone, +brought in a bill to take a census of the people of the United Kingdom, +pointing out not only the general importance of a knowledge of the +population of a country in its entire amount and its different classes +to every government, but also its special bearing on agriculture and on +the means requisite to provide subsistence for the people, on trade and +manufactures, and on our resources for war. Such a census as he proposed +had been more than once taken in Holland, Sweden, Spain, and even in the +United States, young as was their separate national existence; it had +been taken once--nearly fifty years previous--in Scotland; and something +like one had been furnished in England in the reign of Edward III. by a +subsidy roll, and in that of Elizabeth by diocesan returns furnished by +the Bishops to the Privy Council.[148] He farther argued for the +necessity of such a proceeding from the different notions entertained by +men of sanguine or desponding tempers as to the increase or diminution +of the population. "Some desponding men had asserted that the population +had decreased by a million and a half between the Revolution and Peace +of Paris, in 1763; others (of whom the speaker himself was one) believed +that, on the contrary, it had increased in that interval by two +millions." His motion was unanimously adopted by both Houses; and when +the census was taken, its real result furnished as strong a proof of its +usefulness as any of the mover's arguments, by the extent of the +prevailing miscalculations which it detected. For Mr. Abbott, who had +spared no pains to arrive at a correct estimate, while he mentioned that +some persons reckoned the population of England and Wales at 8,000,000, +pronounced that, according to other statements, formed on a more +extensive investigation, and, as it seemed to him, on a more correct +train of reasoning, the total number could not be less than 11,000,000. +In point of fact, excluding those employed in the army and navy, who +were nearly half a million, the number for England and Wales fell short +of nine millions.[149] It would be quite superfluous to dilate on the +value of the information thus supplied, without which, indeed, much of +our subsequent legislation on poor-laws, corn-laws, and all matters +relating to rating and taxation, would have been impracticable or the +merest guesswork. + +As was mentioned in the preceding chapter, Pitt found himself unable to +fulfil the hopes which, in his negotiations with different parties in +Ireland, he had led the Roman Catholics to entertain of the removal of +their civil and political disabilities. So rigorous were those +restrictions, both in England and Ireland, that a Roman Catholic could +not serve even as a private in the militia; and a motion made in 1797 by +Mr. Wilberforce--a man who could certainly not be suspected of any +leaning to Roman Catholic doctrine--to render them admissible to that +service, though it was adopted in the House of Commons, was rejected by +the House of Lords. But Pitt, who on that occasion had supported +Wilberforce, did not confine his views to the removal of a single petty +disability, but proposed to put the whole body of Roman Catholics on a +footing of perfect equality with Protestants in respect of their +eligibility to every kind of office, with one or two exceptions. And +during the autumn of 1800 he was busily engaged in framing the details +of his measure, in order to submit it to his royal master in its +entirety, and so to avoid disquieting him with a repetition of +discussions on the subject, which he knew to be distasteful to him. For, +five years before, George III. had consulted the Chief-justice, Lord +Kenyon, and the Attorney-general, Sir John Scott (afterward Lord Eldon), +on the question whether some proposed concessions to Dissenters, +Protestant as well as Roman Catholic, did not "militate against the +coronation oath and many existing statutes;" and had received their +legal opinion that the tests enacted in the reign of Charles II., +"though wise laws, and in policy not to be departed from, might be +repealed or altered without any breach of the coronation oath or Act of +Union" (with Scotland).[150] Their opinions on the point were the more +valuable, since they were notoriously opposed to their political +convictions, and might be supposed to have carried sufficient conviction +to the royal mind. But his Majesty's scruples were now, unfortunately, +revived by the Lord Chancellor, who, strange to say, was himself a +Presbyterian; and who treacherously availed himself of his knowledge of +what was in contemplation to anticipate the Prime-minister's intended +explanations to the King. He fully succeeded in his object of fixing the +King's resolution to refuse his assent to the contemplated concessions +(which, by a curious confusion of ideas, his Majesty even characterized +as "Jacobinical"[151]), though not in the object which he had still more +at heart, of inducing the King to regard him as the statesman in the +whole kingdom the most deserving of his confidence. The merits of the +question will be more appropriately examined hereafter. It is sufficient +to say here that Pitt, conceiving himself bound by personal honor as +well as by statesman-like duty to persevere in his intended measure, or +to retire from an office which no man is justified in holding unless he +can discharge its functions in accordance with his own judgment of what +is required by the best interests of the state, resigned his post, and +was succeeded by Mr. Addington. + +Addington's ministry was made memorable by the formation of the Northern +Confederacy against us, and its immediate and total overthrow by +Nelson's cannon; and for the Peace of Amiens, severely criticised in +Parliament, as that of Utrecht and every subsequent treaty with a +similar object had been, but defensible both on grounds of domestic +policy, as well as on that of affording us a much-needed respite from +the strain of war; though it proved to be only a respite, and a feverish +one, since at the end of two years the war was renewed, to be waged with +greater fury than ever. But it was too short-lived for any +constitutional questions to arise in it. And when, in 1804, Pitt resumed +the government, his attention was too completely engrossed by the +diplomatic arrangements by which he hoped to unite all the nations east +of the Rhine in resistance to a power whose ever aggressive ambition was +a standing menace to every Continental kingdom, for him to be able to +spare time for the consideration of measures of domestic policy, except +such as were of a financial character. But, though his premature death +rendered his second administration shorter than even Addington's, it was +not wholly unproductive of questions of constitutional interest. It +witnessed a recurrence to that which cannot but be regarded as among the +most important privileges of the House of Commons, the right of +impeaching a minister for maladministration. A report of a commission +appointed for the investigation of the naval affairs of the kingdom had +revealed to Parliament a gross misapplication of the public money +committed by the Paymaster of the Navy. And, as that officer could not +have offended as he had done without either gross carelessness or +culpable connivance on the part of the Treasurer of the Navy, Lord +Melville, who had since been promoted to the post of First Lord of the +Admiralty, the House of Commons ordered his impeachment at the Bar of +the House of Lords; the vote being passed in 1805, during Pitt's +administration, though the trial did not take place till the year +following. In reality, the charge did not impugn Lord Melville's +personal honor, on which at first sight it appeared to press hardly, Mr. +Whitbread himself, the member for Bedford, who was the chief promoter +and manager of the impeachment, admitting that he never imputed to Lord +Melville "any participation in the plunder of the public;" and, as Lord +Melville was acquitted on every one of the charges brought against him, +the case might have been passed over here with the barest mention of it, +were it not that Lord Campbell has pointed out the mode of procedure as +differing from that adopted in the great trial of Warren Hastings, +twenty years before; and, by reason of that difference, forming a model +for future proceedings of the same kind, if, unhappily, there should +ever be occasion given for a similar prosecution. The credit of the +difference Lord Campbell gives to the Chancellor, Lord Erskine, who, +"instead of allowing the House of Lords to sit to hear the case a few +days in a year, and, when sitting, being converted from a court of +justice into a theatre for rhetorical display, insisted that it should +sit, like every other criminal tribunal, _de die in diem_, till the +verdict was delivered. And he enforced both upon the managers of the +House of Commons and on the counsel for the defendant the wholesome +rules of procedure established for the detection of crime and the +protection of innocence."[152] It is well known that on the trial of +Hastings the managers of that impeachment, and most especially Burke, +claimed a right of giving evidence such as no court of law would have +admitted, and set up what they entitled "a usage of Parliament +independent of and contradistinguished from the common law."[153] But on +that occasion Lord Thurlow, then Chancellor, utterly denied the +existence of any such usage--a usage which, "in times of barbarism, when +to impeach a man was to ruin him by the strong hand of power, was quoted +in order to justify the most arbitrary proceedings." He instanced the +trial of Lord Stafford, as one which "was from beginning to end marked +by violence and injustice," and expressed a "hope that in these +enlightened days no man would be tried but by the law of the land." We +may fairly agree with Lord Campbell, that it is to be hoped that the +course adopted by Lord Erskine in this case has settled the principle +and mode of procedure for all future time; since certainly the +importance of an impeachment, both as to the state interests involved in +it, and the high position and authority of the defendant, ought to be +considered as reasons for adhering with the greatest closeness to the +strict rules of law, rather than for relaxing them in any particular. + +But, as was natural, the public could spare little attention for +anything except the war, and the arrangements made by the minister for +engaging in it with effect; the interest which such a state of things +always kindles being in this instance greatly inflamed by Napoleon's +avowal of a design to invade the kingdom, though it is now known that +the preparations of which he made such a parade were merely a feint to +throw Austria off her guard.[154] During Addington's administration Pitt +had spoken warmly in favor of giving every possible encouragement to the +Volunteer movement, and also in support of a proposal made by an +independent member, Colonel Crawford, to fortify London; and one of his +first measures after his resumption of office was a measure, known as +the Additional Force Bill, to transfer a large portion of the militia to +the regular army. It was so purely a measure of detail, that it would +hardly have been necessary to mention it, had it not been for an +objection made to it by the Prime-minister's former colleague, Lord +Grenville, and for the reply with which that objection was encountered +by the Chief-justice, Lord Ellenborough; the former denouncing it as +unconstitutional, since, he declared, it tended to establish a large +standing army in time of peace; and Lord Ellenborough, on the other +hand, declaring the right of the crown to call out the whole population +in arms for the defence of the realm to be so "radical, essential, and +hitherto never questioned part of the royal prerogative, that, even in +such an age of adventurous propositions, he had not expected that any +lord would have ventured to question it."[155] + +Pitt died in the beginning of 1806, and was succeeded by an +administration of which his great rival, Fox, was the guiding spirit +while he lived, though Lord Grenville was First Lord of the Treasury, +and, after Fox's death, which took place in September, the undisputed +Prime-minister. But the formation of the administration was not +completed without a step which was at once strongly denounced, not only +by the regular Opposition, but by several members of political +moderation, as a violation, if not of the letter, at least of the +spirit, of the constitution, the introduction of the Lord Chief-justice, +Lord Ellenborough, into the cabinet. It was notorious that he was +invited to a seat among that body as the representative of a small +party, the personal friends of Lord Sidmouth. For the ministry was +formed in some degree on the principle of a coalition; Lord Grenville +himself having been a colleague of Pitt throughout the greater part of +that statesman's first ministry, and as such having been always opposed +to Fox; while Lord Ellenborough had been Attorney-general in Addington's +administration, which avowedly only differed from Pitt on the single +subject of the Catholic question. + +The appointment was at once made the subject of motions in both Houses +of Parliament. In the House of Lords, Lord Bristol, who brought the +question forward, denounced "this identification of a judge with the +executive government as injurious to the judicial character, subversive +of the liberty of the people, and having a direct and alarming tendency +to blend and amalgamate those great elementary principles of political +power which it is the very object of a free constitution to keep +separate and distinct." In the House of Commons, Mr. Canning took a +similar objection; and, though he admitted that a precedent for the act +might be found in the case of Lord Mansfield who, while Chief-justice, +had also been a cabinet minister in the administration of 1757, he +argued forcibly that that precedent turned against the ministry and the +present appointment, because Lord Mansfield himself had subsequently +admitted that "he had infringed the principles of the constitution by +acting as a cabinet minister and Chief-justice at the same time." Fox, +in reply, relied principally on two arguments. The first was, that "he +had never heard of such a thing as the cabinet council becoming the +subject of a debate in that House. He had never known of the exercise of +the King's prerogative in the appointment of his ministers being brought +into question on such grounds as had now been alleged." The second, that +"in point of fact there is nothing in the constitution that recognizes +any such institution as a cabinet council; that it is a body unknown to +the law, and one which has in no instance whatever been recognized by +Parliament." He farther urged that as Lord Ellenborough was a privy +councillor, and as the cabinet is only a select committee of the Privy +Council, he was, "in fact, as liable to be summoned to attend the +cabinet, as a privy councillor, as he was in his present situation." + +The last argument was beneath the speaker to use, since not one of his +hearers was ignorant that no member of the Privy Council unconnected +with the government ever is summoned to the deliberations of the +cabinet; and though, as he correctly stated, "there is no legal record +of the members comprising any cabinet," it may safely be affirmed that +since July, 1714, when the Duke of Argyll and the Duke of Somerset +claimed admission to the deliberations of the ministers, on account of +the danger in which the Queen lay, though they admitted that they had +received no summons to attend,[156] there has been no instance of any +privy councillor attending without a summons; nor, except at the +accession of a new sovereign, of summonses being sent to any members of +the council except the actual ministers. The second argument was even +worse, as being still more sophistical. It might be true that no law nor +statute recognized the cabinet as a body distinct from the Privy +Council, but it was at least equally true that there was no one who was +ignorant of the distinction; that it was, in truth, one without which it +would be difficult to understand the organization or working of any +ministry. The indispensable function and privilege of a ministry is, to +deliberate in concert and in private on the measures to be taken for the +welfare of the state; but there could be little chance of concert, and +certainly none of privacy, if every one who has ever been sworn a member +of the Privy Council had a right to attend all its deliberations. Again, +to say that the King's prerogative, as exercised in the choice of his +advisers, is a thing so sacred that no abuse of it, or want of judgment +shown in its exercise, can warrant a complaint, is inconsistent with +every principle of constitutional government, and with every conceivable +idea of the privileges of Parliament. In fact, Parliament has claimed a +right to interfere in matters apparently touching more nearly the royal +prerogative, and it is only in the reign preceding the present reign +that hostile comments have been made in Parliament on the appointment of +a particular person as ambassador to a foreign power. Yet the post of +ambassador is one which might have been supposed to have been farther +removed from the supervision of Parliament than that of a minister, an +ambassador being in a special degree the personal representative of the +sovereign, and the sovereign therefore, having, it might be supposed, a +right to a most unfettered choice in such a matter. + +Stripped of all technicalities, and even of all reference to the +manifest possibility of such a circumstance arising as that the +Chief-justice, if a member of a cabinet, may have a share in ordering +the institution of a prosecution which, as a judge, it may be his lot to +try, one consideration which is undeniable is, that a member of a +cabinet is of necessity, and by the very nature of his position in it, a +party man, and that it is of preeminent importance to the impartiality +of the judicial bench, and to the confidence of the people in the +purity, integrity, and freedom from political bias of their decisions, +that the judges should be exempt from all suspicion of party connection. +Lord Campbell even goes the length of saying, what was not urged on +either side of either House in these debates, that it was alleged by at +least one contemporary writer that Lord Mansfield's position in the +cabinet did perceptibly influence some of his views and measures +respecting the Press;[157] and, though in both Houses the ministry had a +majority on the question of the propriety of the appointment, he records +his own opinion[158] that "the argument was all on the losing side;" and +that Mr. Fox showed his consciousness that it was so by his "concession +that the Chief-justice should absent himself from the cabinet when the +expediency of commencing prosecutions for treason or sedition was to be +discussed." He adds, also, that "it is said that Lord Ellenborough +himself ere long changed his opinion, and, to his intimate friends, +expressed deep regret that he had ever been prevailed upon to enter the +cabinet." + +But, if the composition of the cabinet of 1806 has in this respect been +generally condemned, on the other hand the annals of that ministry, +short-lived as it was, are marked by the enactment of one great measure +which has been stamped with universal approbation. It may, perhaps, be +said that the existence, promotion, discouragement, or suppression of a +branch of trade has no title to be regarded as a constitutional +question. But the course which the British Parliament, after a long +period of hesitation, has adopted respecting, not only the slave-trade, +but the employment of slave-labor in any part of the British dominions, +is so intimately connected with the great constitutional principle, that +every man, whatever be his race or nation or previous condition, whose +foot is once planted on British soil, is free from that moment, that it +cannot be accounted a digression to mention the subject here. To our +statesmen of Queen Anne's time traffic in slaves was so far from being +considered discreditable, that the ministry of that reign prided +themselves greatly on what was called the Assiento Treaty with Spain, by +which they secured for the British merchants and ship-owners the +privilege of supplying the West India Islands with several thousand +slaves a year. In 1748 the ministers of George II were equally jealous +of the credit of renewing it. It had even on one occasion been decided +in the Court of Common Pleas that an action of trover could be +maintained for a negro, "because negroes are heathens;" though +Chief-justice Holt scouted the idea of being bound by a precedent which +would put "a human being on the same footing as an ox or an ass," and +declared that "in England there was no such thing as a slave." +Subsequent decisions, however, of two Lord Chancellors--Lord Talbot and +Lord Hardwicke--were not wholly consistent with the doctrine thus laid +down by Holt; and the question could not be regarded as finally settled +till 1772, when a slave named Somersett was brought over to England from +Jamaica by his master, and on his arrival in the Thames claimed his +freedom, and under a writ of _habeas corpus_ had his claim allowed by +Lord Mansfield. The master's counsel contended that slavery was not a +condition unsanctioned by English law, for villeinage was slavery, and +no statute had ever abolished villeinage. But the Chief-justice, in the +first place, denied that villeinage had ever been slavery such as +existed in the West Indies; and, in the second place, he pronounced +that, whether it had been or not, it had, at all events, long ceased in +England, and could not be revived. "The air of England has long been too +pure for a slave, and every man is free who breathes it. Every man who +comes into England is entitled to the protection of English law."[159] +But this freedom was as yet held to be only co-extensive with these +islands. And for sixty years more our West India Islands continued to be +cultivated by the labor of slaves, some of whom were the offspring of +slaves previously employed, though by far the greater part were imported +yearly from the western coast of Africa. The supply from that country +seemed inexhaustible. The native chiefs in time of war gladly sold their +prisoners to the captains of British vessels; in time of peace they sold +them their own subjects; and, if at any time these modes of obtaining +slaves slackened, the captains would land at night, and, attacking the +villages on the coast sweep off the inhabitants on board their ships, +and at once set sail with their booty. The sufferings of these unhappy +captives in what was called the "middle passage"--the passage between +their native land and the West India Islands--were for a long time +unknown or disregarded, till, early in Pitt's first ministry, they +attracted the notice of some of our naval officers who were stationed in +the West Indies, and who, on their return to England, related the +horrors which they had witnessed or heard of--how, between decks too low +to admit of a full-grown man standing upright, the wretched victims, +chained to the sides of the ships, lay squeezed together in such +numbers, though the whole voyage was within the tropics, that, from the +overpowering heat and scantiness of food, it was estimated that +two-thirds of each cargo died on the passage. Most fortunately for the +credit of England, the fearful trade was brought under the notice of a +young member of Parliament singularly zealous in the cause of humanity +and religion, endowed with untiring industry and powerful eloquence, and +connected by the closest ties of personal intimacy with Mr. Pitt. To +hear of such a system of organized murder, as the British officers +described the slave-trade to be, was quite sufficient to induce Mr. +Wilberforce to resolve to devote himself to its suppression. He laid the +case in all its horrors before his friend the Prime-minister, a man as +ready as himself to grapple with and extinguish all proved abuses; and +Pitt at once promised him all the support which he could give. It was no +easy task that he had taken on himself. A year or two before, Burke had +applied himself to frame some regulations which he hoped might gradually +remove the evil; but, little as he was moved by considerations of +popularity or daunted by difficulty, he had abandoned the attempt, as +one which would meet with a resistance too powerful to be overcome. +Wilberforce was not a bolder man than Burke, but he had no other object +to divide his attention, and, therefore, to this one he devoted all his +faculties and energies, enlisting supporters in every quarter, seeking +even the co-operation of the French government, and opening a +correspondence with the French Secretary of State, M. Montmorin, a +statesman of great capacity, and, what was far rarer in France, of +incorruptible honesty. M. Montmorin, however, though alive to the +cruelty of the traffic, was unable to promise him any aid, alleging the +fears of the French planters that its abolition "would ruin the French +islands. He said that it was one of those subjects upon which the +interests of men and their sentiments were so much at variance, that it +was difficult to learn what was practicable."[160] + +Wilberforce had already found that the English merchants were still less +manageable. Pitt had entered so fully into his views, that in 1788 he +himself moved and carried a resolution pledging the House of Commons to +take the slave-trade into consideration in the next session. And another +friend of the cause, Sir W. Dobben, brought in a bill to diminish the +horrors of the middle passage by proportioning the number of slaves who +might be conveyed in one ship to the tonnage of the vessel. But those +concerned in the West India trade rose up in arms against even so +moderate a measure, and one so clearly demanded by the most ordinary +humanity as this. The Liverpool merchants declared that the absence of +restrictions on the slave-trade had been the chief cause of the +prosperity and opulence of their town, and obtained leave to be heard by +counsel against the bill. But Fox united with Pitt on this subject, and +the bill was carried. But this was all the practical success which the +efforts of the "Abolitionists," as they began to be called, achieved for +many years. And even that was not won without extreme difficulty; Lord +Chancellor Thurlow opposing it with great vehemence in the House of +Lords, as the fruit of a "five days' fit of philanthropy which had just +sprung up," and pointing to the conduct of the French government, which, +as he asserted, had offered premiums to encourage the trade, as an +example that we should do well to follow. It was even said that he had +contrived to incline the King himself to the same view; to have +persuaded him that the trade was indispensable to the prosperity of our +manufacturers, and, in the Chancellor's words, "that it was his royal +duty to show some humanity to the whites as well as to the negroes." And +more than once, when bills to limit or wholly suppress the trade had +been passed by the Commons, the same mischievous influence defeated them +in the Lords. The last years of Pitt's first administration were too +fully occupied with the affairs of Ireland, negotiations with foreign +powers, and the great war with France, to enable him to keep pace with +his friend's zeal on the subject. But in his second administration, +occupied though he was with a recurrence of the same causes, he found +time to prepare and issue an Order in Council prohibiting the +importation of slaves into our fresh colonial acquisitions, and the +employment of British ships to supply the Dutch, French, and Spanish +islands. + +And this Order in Council paved the way for the total abolition. One of +the earliest proceedings of the new ministry was the introduction by the +Attorney-general, Sir Arthur Pigott, of a bill to extend and make it +perpetual; to forbid "the importation of African negroes by British +ships into the colonies conquered by or ceded to us in war; or into the +colonies of any neutral state in the West Indies. For at present every +state that had colonies in America or the West Indies, and that was not +actually at war with us, availed itself of the opportunity of British +shipping to carry on the trade." It was resisted as vehemently as any +former measure with the same object, and partly on the new ground that +it would in no degree stop the trade or diminish the sufferings of the +Africans, but would merely rob our ship-owners of their profits to +enrich the Americans. Mr. Rose, the member for Christchurch, who +advanced this argument, had been a friend of Pitt; yet, though he quoted +an instance of a single vessel having buried one hundred and fifty-two +slaves on one voyage, he was not ashamed to deprecate the bill, on the +plea that "the manufacturers of Manchester, Stockport, and Paisley would +be going about naked and starving, and thus, by attending to a supposed +claim for relief from a distant quarter, we should give existence to +much more severe distress at home." The bill, however, was carried in +both Houses, and received the royal assent. And Fox, who supported it +warmly in his speech on the third reading (one of the last speeches +which he ever addressed to the House), invited Wilberforce to regard it +as a stepping-stone to the total abolition of the trade, and as an +encouragement to renew his motion for that object; and, though he could +not promise him the support of the government as a government, he "could +answer for himself and many of his friends who held the highest and most +dignified stations in the other House of Parliament. They still felt the +question of the total abolition as one involving the dearest interests +of humanity, and as one which, should they be successful in effecting +it, would entail more true glory upon their administration, and more +honor upon their country, than any other transaction in which they could +be engaged." + +Mr. Fox did not live to see the opening of another session; but, when +that time came, the position which he had taken up, that the measure of +which he had thus promoted the passing was an encouragement to do more, +was adopted to its full extent by the chief of his colleagues, Lord +Grenville, who, in February, 1807, himself brought forward a motion for +the entire abolition of the trade. Though he was Prime-minister, he +could not introduce it as a government measure, since two of his +colleagues--Lord Sidmouth, the President of the Council, and Mr. +Windham, the Secretary of State for the Colonies--opposed it; though the +former professed a desire to see the trade abolished, but would have +preferred to attain that end by imposing such a tax on every slave +imported as should render the trade unprofitable. He had another +obstacle also to encounter, in the vehement opposition of some of the +princes of the royal family, the Dukes of Clarence and Sussex more +especially, who were known to be canvassing against the bill, and were +generally understood, in so doing, to be acting in accordance with the +views of their elder brothers. But he was confident that by this time +the feeling of the whole country was with him on the subject. He was +resolved to rest his case on its justice, and therefore consented that +the House should hear counsel on the subject, though he resisted their +demand to be allowed to call witnesses. Accordingly, counsel were heard +for the whole body of West India planters, and for those of one or two +separate islands, such as Jamaica and Trinidad; for the Liverpool +merchants, and even for the trustees of the Liverpool Docks. But some of +their reasonings he even turned against themselves, refusing for a +moment to admit "that the profits obtained by robbery could be urged as +an argument for the continuance of robbery." He denounced the trade as +"the most criminal that any country could be engaged in," and as one +that led to other crimes in the treatment of the slaves after they +reached the West Indies. He instanced "three most horrible and dreadful +murders of slaves" that had been committed in Barbadoes, and quoted the +report of Lord Seaforth, governor of the island, who, on investigation, +had found that by the law of the colony the punishment affixed to such +murders was a fine of eleven pounds. He was opposed by the Duke of +Clarence, who directed his remarks chiefly to a defence of the general +humanity of the planters; and by Lord Westmoreland, who, in a speech of +singular intemperance, denounced the principle of the measure, as one +after the passing of which "no property could be rendered safe which +could fall within the power of the Legislature." He even made it an +argument against the bill that its principle, if carried to its +legitimate logical end, must tend to the abolition of slavery as well as +of the slave-trade. He objected especially to the assertion in the +preamble that the trade was "contrary to justice and humanity," +declaring that those words were only inserted in the hope that by them +"foreign powers might be humbugged into a concurrence with the +abolition," and wound up his harangue by a declaration that, though he +should "see the Presbyterian and the prelate, the Methodist and +pew-preacher, the Jacobin and the murderer, unite in support of it, he +would still raise his voice against it." It must have been more painful +to the minister to be opposed by so distinguished an officer as Lord St. +Vincent, who resisted the bill chiefly on the ground that "its effect +would be to transfer British capital to other countries, which would not +be disposed to abandon so productive a trade," and declared that he +could only account for Lord Grenville's advocacy of it "by supposing +that some Obi man had cast his spell upon him." But the case was too +strong for any arguments to prevail which were based solely on the +profits of a trade which no one pretended to justify. The bill passed +the Lords by a majority of nearly three to one; in the House of Commons, +where the opposition was much feebler, by one infinitely larger;[161] +and, by a somewhat remarkable coincidence, it received the royal assent +on the same day on which Lord Grenville announced to his brother peers +that his administration was at an end. + +Even before the abolition had thus become law, the member for +Northumberland, Earl Percy, endeavored to give practical effect to Lord +Westmoreland's view, that emancipation of the slaves was its inevitable +corollary, by moving for leave to bring in a bill for the gradual +abolition of slavery in the British settlements of the West Indies. But +he was opposed by Lord Howick,[162] though he had been among the earnest +advocates of abolition, partly for the sake of the negroes themselves, +and partly on the ground that the Legislature had no "right to interfere +with the property of the colonists;" little foreseeing that the measure +which he now opposed was reserved for his own administration, and that +its accomplishment would be one of its chief titles to the respectful +recollection of posterity. And, as the House was presently counted out, +the discussion would not have been worth recording, were it not for the +opportunity which it gave of displaying the practical and moderate +wisdom of Wilberforce himself, who joined in the opposition to Lord +Percy's motion. "The enemies of abolition had," he said, "always +confounded abolition with emancipation. He and his friends had always +distinguished between them; and not only abstained from proposing +emancipation, but were ready to reject it when proposed by others. How +much soever he looked forward with anxious expectation to the period +when the negroes might with safety be liberated, he knew too well the +effect which the long continuance of abject slavery produced upon the +human mind to think of their immediate emancipation, a measure which at +the present moment would be injurious both to them and to the colonies. +He and those who acted with him were satisfied with having gained an +object which was safely attainable." + +And they had reason to be satisfied. For the good work thus done was not +limited by the extent of the British dominions, vast as they are. The +example of the homage thus paid by the Parliament and the nation to +justice and humanity was contagious; the principle on which the bill was +founded and was carried being such that, for mere shame, foreign +countries could hardly persist in maintaining a traffic which those who +had derived the greatest profit from it had on such grounds renounced; +though our ministers did not trust to their spontaneous sympathies, but +made the abolition of the traffic by our various allies, or those who +wished to become so, a constant object of diplomatic negotiations, even +purchasing the co-operation of some by important concessions, in one +instance by the payment of a large sum of money. The conferences and +congresses which took place on the re-establishment of peace gave them +great facilities for pressing their views on the different governments. +And Lord Liverpool's instructions to Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of +Wellington, as plenipotentiaries of our government,[163] show the keen +interest which he took in the matter, and the skilful manner in which he +sought to avail himself of the predominant influence which the exertions +and triumphs of this country had given her with every foreign cabinet. +Though Portugal was an ally to whom we regarded ourselves as bound by +special ties, as well as by the great benefits we had conferred on her, +yet, as she clung with the greatest pertinacity to the trade, he did not +scruple to endeavor to put a constraint upon her which should compel her +submission, and instructed Lord Castlereagh "to induce the Congress to +take the best means in their power to enforce it by the adoption of a +law, on the part of the several states, to exclude the colonial produce +of those countries who should refuse to comply with this system of +abolition." + +And exertions so resolutely put forward were so successful, that the +trade was avowedly proscribed by every European nation, though +unquestionably it was still carried on by stealth by merchants and +ship-owners of more than one country--not, if the suspicions of our +statesmen were well founded, without some connivance on the part of +their governments. Nor were our efforts in the cause the fitful display +of impulsive excitement. We have continued them and widened their sphere +as occasions have presented themselves, exerting a successful influence +even over unchristian and semi-civilized governments, of which an +instance has very recently been furnished, in the assurances given by +the Khedive of Egypt to our minister residing at his court, that he is +taking vigorous measures to suppress the slave-trade, which is still +carried on in the interior of Africa; and that we may believe his +promise that he will not relax his exertions till it is extinguished, at +least in the region on the north of the equator. + +Individuals, as a rule, are slow to take warning from the experience of +others; slower, perhaps, to follow their example in well-doing. Nations +are slower still. When such an example is followed, still more when it +is adopted by a general imitation, it will usually be found not only +that the good is of a very unusual standard of excellence, but that he +or they who have set the example are endowed with a force of character +that predisposes others to submit to their influence. And credit of this +kind England may fairly claim for the general abolition of the +slave-trade; for the condemnation and abolition of the slave-trade had +this distinguishing feature, that the idea of such a policy was of +exclusively British origin. No nation had ever before conceived the +notion that to make a man a slave was a crime. On the contrary, there +were not wanting those who, from the recognition of such a condition in +the Bible, argued that it was a divine institution. And they who +denounced it, and labored for its suppression, had not only inveterate +prejudice and long custom to contend with, but found arrayed against +them many of the strongest passions that animate mankind. The natural +desire for gain united merchants, ship-owners, and planters in unanimous +resistance to a measure calculated to cut off from them one large source +of profit. Patriotism, which, however misguided, was sincere and free +from all taint of personal covetousness, induced many, who wore wholly +unconnected either with commerce or with the West Indies, to look with +disfavor on a change which not only imperilled the interests of such +important bodies of men, but which they were assured by those concerned, +must render the future cultivation of estates in the West Indies +impracticable; while such a result would not only ruin those valuable +colonies, but would also extinguish that great nursery for our navy +which was furnished by the vessels at present engaged in the West India +trade. To disregard such substantial considerations to risk a loss of +revenue, a diminution of our colonial greatness, and a weakening of our +maritime power, even while engaged in a formidable war, under no other +pressure but that of a respect for humanity and justice, was certainly a +homage to those virtues, and also an act of self-denying courage, of +which the previous history of the world had furnished no similar +example; and it is one of which, in one point of view, the nation may be +more justly proud than of the achievements of its wisest statesmen, or +the exploits of its most invincible warriors. For it was the act of the +nation itself. No previous sentiment of the people paved the way for +Pitt's triumphs in finance, for Nelson's or Wellington's victories by +sea and land; but the slave-trade could never have been abolished by any +parliamentary leader, had not the nation as a whole become convinced of +its wickedness, and, when once so convinced, resolved to brave +everything rather than persist in it. The merit of having impressed it +with this conviction belongs to Mr. Wilberforce, whose untiring, +unswerving devotion of brilliant eloquence and practical ability to the +one holy object, and whose ultimate success, give him a just claim to be +reckoned among the great men of a generation than which the world has +seen none more prolific of every kind of greatness. But the nation +itself is also entitled to no slight credit for having so rapidly +appreciated the force of his teaching, and for having encouraged its +representatives to listen to his voice, by the knowledge that by +adopting his measures they would be carrying out the wish and +determination of the whole people. + +A measure for the strengthening of the army, introduced by the Secretary +of State for War, Mr. Windham, though not one of perpetual force, since +it required to be renewed every year, claims a brief mention, from the +extent to which one of its clauses trenched on the freedom of the +subject, by making every man of military age (from sixteen years +old[164] to forty) liable to be compelled to submit to military training +for a certain period of each year. "Nothing," to quote the Secretary's +words, "was to exempt any man from the general training but his becoming +a volunteer at his own expense, the advantage of which would be that he +could train himself if he chose, and fight, if occasion required it, in +the corps to which he should belong, instead of being liable to fall in +among the regulars.... As out of the immense mass of the population some +selection must be made, those called on to be trained were to be +selected by lot, and he would have the people divided into three +classes, between the ages of sixteen and forty: the first class to +comprehend all from sixteen to twenty-four; the second, those between +twenty-four and thirty-two; and the third, all from thirty-two to forty. +The number of days for training he proposed to limit to twenty-six, with +an allowance of a shilling a day for each man." The result aimed at by +this part of his measure was the creation of a force different from and +unconnected with the militia; and he did not conceal his hope that the +military habits which it would implant in a large portion of the +population would lead many of those thus about to be trained to enlist +in the regular army. To the militia itself he paid a high but not +undeserved compliment, declaring it "for home service certainly equal to +any part of our regular forces, with the single exception that it had +never seen actual service." But the militia could not be called on to +serve out of the kingdom; and his object was to increase the force +available for foreign service--"to see the great mass of the population +of the country so far trained as to be able to recruit immediately +whatever losses the regular army might sustain in action." As yet, the +number of men yearly obtained by recruiting fell far short of the +requirements of the service. Wellington had not yet begun that career of +victory which created a national enthusiasm for war, and filled our +ranks with willing soldiers. And another clause of the same bill was +framed in the hope of making the service more acceptable to the +peasantry, by limiting the time for which recruits were to be enlisted, +and entering men, at first, in the infantry for seven years, or in the +cavalry (as that branch of the service required a longer apprenticeship) +for ten; then allowing them the option of renewing their engagement for +two periods--in the infantry of seven years each, in the cavalry of six +and five, with increased pay during each of the two periods, and a small +pension for life, if the soldier retired after the second period; and +"the full allowance of Chelsea," which was to be farther raised to a +shilling a day, for those who elected to serve the whole twenty-one +years. This principle the present reign has seen carried to a much +greater extent, but the change is too recent for even the most +experienced officers to be agreed on its effects. And it is only because +of this recent extension of it that this clause is mentioned here. But +the enactment of a law of compulsory service was clearly an inroad on +the great constitutional right of every man to choose his own +employment. At the same time, it is equally clear that it was only such +an inroad as under the circumstances, was fully justifiable. It is true +that all danger of French invasion had passed away with Trafalgar; but +the kingdom was still engaged in a gigantic war, and the necessity of +the case--always the supreme law--was so little denied by the +Opposition, that their objections to the bill were directed entirely +against the clause for limited enlistment, and not against that which +abridged the subject's liberty, by compelling him to learn to serve his +country in war. + +The reign of George III., which had now lasted fifty years, was drawing +practically to a close. The excitement caused by the ministerial changes +in 1801 had already brought on one relapse, though fortunately a very +brief one, of the King's malady of 1788; and in the autumn of 1810 the +death of the daughter who was supposed to be his especial favorite, the +Princess Amelia, produced a recurrence of it, which, though at first the +physicians entertained more sanguine hopes of his speedy recovery than +on any former occasion, he never shook off. More than one change of +ministry had recently taken place. In 1807 Lord Grenville had been +compelled, as Pitt had been in 1801, to choose between yielding his +opinions on the Catholic question or resigning his office, and had +chosen the latter alternative. He had been succeeded for two years by +the Duke of Portland; but in 1809 that nobleman had also retired, and +had been succeeded by his Attorney-general, Mr. Perceval, the only +practising barrister who had ever been so promoted. And he now being +Prime-minister, and, as such, forced to make arrangements for carrying +on the government during the illness of his sovereign, naturally +regarded the course pursued in 1789 as the precedent to be followed. +Accordingly, on the 20th of December he proposed for the adoption of the +House of Commons the same resolutions which Pitt had carried twenty-two +years before--that the King was prevented by indisposition from +attending to public business; that it was the duty of Parliament to +provide means for supplying the defect of the personal exercise of the +royal authority, and its duty also to determine the mode in which the +royal assent to the measures necessary could be signified. And he also +followed Pitt's example in expressing by letter to the Prince of Wales +his conviction that his Royal Highness was a person most proper to be +appointed Regent, and explaining at the same time the restrictions which +seemed proper to be imposed on his immediate exercise of the complete +sovereign authority; though the advanced age at which the King had now +arrived made it reasonable that those restrictions should now be limited +to a single year. The Prince, on his part, showed that time had in no +degree abated his repugnance to those restrictions, and he answered the +minister's letter by referring him to that which he had addressed to +Pitt on the same subject in 1788. And he induced all his brothers to +address to Perceval a formal protest against "the establishment of a +restricted Regency," which they proceeded to describe as perfectly +unconstitutional, as being contrary to and subversive of the principles +which seated their family upon the throne of this realm.[165] + +Perceval, however, with Pitt's example before him, had no doubt of the +course which it was his duty to pursue; and the Opposition also, for the +most part, followed the tactics of 1789; the line of argument now +adopted by each party being so nearly identical with that employed on +the former occasion, that it is needless to recapitulate the topics on +which the different speakers insisted; though it is worth remarking that +Lord Holland, who, as the nephew of Fox, thought it incumbent on him to +follow his uncle's guidance, did on one point practically depart from +it. As his uncle had done, he denied the right of the Houses to impose +any restrictions on the Prince's exercise of the royal authority; but, +at the same time, he consented to put what may be called a moral +limitation on that exercise, by adding to an amendment which he proposed +to the resolution proposed by the minister an expression of "the farther +opinion of the House that it will be expedient to abstain from the +exercise of all such powers as the immediate exigencies of the state +shall not call into action, until Parliament shall have passed a bill or +bills for the future care of his Majesty's royal person during his +Majesty's present indisposition." + +It is remarkable that the leaders of the Opposition were in a great +degree stimulated in the line they took by the very same hopes which had +animated Fox and his followers in 1789--the expectation that the +Regent's first act would be to discard the existing ministry, and to +place them in office. But again they were disappointed in their +anticipations, of the realization of which they had made so sure that +they had taken no pains to keep them secret. They even betrayed their +mortification to the world when the Prince's intentions on the subject +of the administration became known by the violence of their language in +Parliament, some of their party denouncing the employment of the Great +Seal to give the royal assent to the bill as "fraud and forgery." Nor, +indeed, could the Regent himself, even while expressing his intention to +make no change in the administration, lest "any act of his might in the +smallest degree have the effect of interfering with the progress of his +sovereign's recovery," suppress an expression of dissatisfaction at the +recent arrangements, which he considered had placed him in "a situation +of unexampled embarrassment," and had created "a state of affairs ill +calculated, as he feared, to sustain the interests of the United Kingdom +in this awful and perilous crisis, and most difficult to be reconciled +to the general principles of the British constitution."[166] There were +at this time general and apparently well-founded hopes of the King's +recovery. For at intervals during the whole of January the +Prime-minister had interviews with his Majesty; and, on the very day on +which the bill became law, the King himself mentioned it to Lord Eldon, +the Chancellor, and said that he acquiesced in it from perfect +confidence in the advice of his physicians, and on the sound judgment +and personal attachment of his ministers. + +For the present, therefore, no change was made in the administration; +but when, in the spring of the following year, Mr. Perceval was +murdered, the necessity for a new arrangement which this strange and +calamitous atrocity forced upon the Regent--who by this time had come +into possession of his full authority--led to his making offers of the +conduct of affairs to more than one prominent statesman, all of them, as +is somewhat remarkable, being peers. And, though the proposals +eventually came to nothing, and the negotiations terminated in the +re-establishment of the former ministry, with Lord Liverpool at its +head, yet some of the causes to which their failure was publicly or +generally attributed seem desirable to be recorded, because the first, +and that most openly avowed, bears a not very distant resemblance to the +complication which baffled Sir Robert Peel's endeavors to form an +administration in 1839; and another corresponds precisely to a proposal +which, in 1827, the Regent--then King George IV.--did himself make to +the Duke of Wellington. It is unnecessary to dwell on the singular +manner in which the Regent first professed to give his confidence to +Lord Wellesley, then transferred it to Lord Moira,[167] and then to a +certain extent included Lord Grey and Lord Grenville in it. Nor would it +be profitable to discuss the correctness or incorrectness of the +suspicion expressed by Mr. Moore, in his "Life of Sheridan"--who was +evidently at this time as fully in the Regent's confidence as any one +else--that "at the bottom of all these evolutions of negotiation there +was anything but a sincere wish, that the object to which they related +should be accomplished."[168] The reason avowed by Lord Grey and Lord +Grenville for refusing a share in the projected administration was the +refusal of Lord Moira, who had been employed by the Prince to treat with +them on the subject, to allow them to make a power of removing the +officers at present filling "the great offices of the household"[169] an +express condition of their acceptance of ministerial office. They +affirmed that a "liberty to make new appointments" to these offices had +usually been given on every change of administration. But Lord Moira, +while admitting that "the Prince had laid no restriction on him in that +respect," declared that "it would be impossible for him to concur in +making the exercise of this power positive and indispensable in the +formation of the administration, because he should deem it on public +grounds peculiarly objectionable." Such an answer certainly gives a +great color to Moore's suspicion, since it is hardly possible to +conceive that Lord Moira took on himself the responsibility of giving it +without a previous knowledge that it would be approved by his royal +master. In a constitutional point of view, there can, it will probably +be felt, be no doubt that the two lords had a right to the liberty they +required. And the very men concerned, the great officers of the +household, were evidently of the same opinion, since the chief, Lord +Yarmouth, informed Sheridan that they intended to resign, in order that +he might communicate that intention to Lord Grey; and Sheridan, who +concealed the intelligence from Lord Grey, can hardly be supposed, any +more than Lord Moira, to have acted in a manner which he did not expect +to be agreeable to the Prince. But, in Canning's opinion, this question +of the household was only the ostensible pretext, and not the real +cause, of those two lords rejecting the Regent's offers; the real cause +being, as he believed, that the Prince himself had already named Lord +Wellesley as Prime-minister, and that they were resolved to insist on +the right of the Whig party to dictate on that point to the Regent,[170] +just as, in 1782, Fox had endeavored to force the Duke of Portland on +the King, when his Majesty preferred Lord Shelburne. As has been +intimated in a former page, it will be seen hereafter that in 1839 a +similar claim to be allowed to remove some of the ladies of the royal +household, and the rejection of that claim by the sovereign, prevented +Sir R. Peel from forming an administration. And, as that transaction was +discussed at some length in Parliament, it will afford a better +opportunity for examining the principle on which the claim and practice +(for of the practice there is no doubt) rest. For the present it is +sufficient to point out the resemblance between the cases. + +But it is remarkable that, unwarrantable as the pretension of the Whig +leaders was to dictate to the Regent to whom he should confide the lead +of the government (if, indeed, Canning be correct in his opinion), yet +it was not one to which the Regent felt any repugnance, since, in 1827, +when Lord Liverpool's illness again left the Treasury vacant, he, being +then on the throne as George IV., proposed to the Duke of Wellington to +desire the remaining members of the administration themselves to select +a chief under whom they would be willing to continue in his service; but +the Duke told him that the plan of allowing them to choose their own +leader would be most derogatory to his position; that the choice of the +Prime-minister was an act which ought to be entirely his own, for that, +in fact under the British constitution, it was the only personal act of +government which the King of Great Britain had to perform.[171] Though +not generally a great authority on constitutional points, we apprehend +that the Duke was clearly correct in this view, which, indeed, has been +so invariably carried out in practice, that the King's suggestion would +not have deserved mention had it not been a king's. So far from it +belonging to any individual subject or to any party to name the +Prime-minister, to do so is even beyond the province of the Parliament. +Parliament decides whether it will give its confidence to an +administration of one party or the other; but not only has no vote ever +been given on the question whether one member of the dominant party be +fitter or not than another to be its head, but we do not remember a +single instance of any member of either House expressing an opinion on +the subject in his place in Parliament. To do so would be felt by every +member of experience to be an infringement on the prerogative of his +sovereign; and it may be added that a contrary practice would certainly +open the door to intrigue, or, what would be equally bad, a suspicion of +intrigue, and would thus inevitably diminish the weight which even the +Opposition desire to see a Prime-minister possess both in Parliament and +in the country. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 148: It is somewhat remarkable that Lord Macaulay, in his +endeavors to estimate the population in 1685, takes no notice of any of +these details mentioned by Mr. Abbott.] + +[Footnote 149: The details of this census of 1801 are given in a note in +the preceding chapter (see page 185), from which it appears that the +entire population of the United Kingdom was in that year 16,395,870. Sir +A. Alison, in different chapters of the second part of his "History of +Europe," gives returns of subsequent censuses, from the last of which +(c. lvi., s. 34, note), it appears that in 1851 the population amounted +to 27,511,862. an increase of 11,116,792 in half a century.] + +[Footnote 150: "Lives of the Chief-justices," by Lord Campbell, iii., +87, life of Lord Kenyon.] + +[Footnote 151: "What is this," said George III. to Mr. Dundas, "which +this young lord (Castlereagh) has brought over, which they are going to +throw at my head? The most Jacobinical thing I ever heard of! I shall +reckon any man my personal enemy who proposes any such measure."--_Life +of Pitt_, iii., 274.] + +[Footnote 152: "Lives of the Chancellors," c. clxxxiv., life of Lord +Erskine.] + +[Footnote 153: "Lives of the Chancellors," c. clix., life of Lord +Thurlow.] + +[Footnote 154: See "Memoires de M. de Metternich," ii., 156.] + +[Footnote 155: "Lives of the Chief-justices," iii., 175.] + +[Footnote 156: Lord Stanhope, "History of England," i., 133.] + +[Footnote 157: "Lives of the Chief-justices," ii., 451. He is quoting H. +Walpole.] + +[Footnote 158: Ibid., iii., 187.] + +[Footnote 159: Campbell's "Lives of the Chief-justices," II., 139, life +of Chief-justice Holt; and p. 418, life of Lord Mansfield.] + +[Footnote 160: "Life of Wilberforce," i., 158.] + +[Footnote 161: The division in the Lords was 100 to 36; in the Commons, +283 to 16.] + +[Footnote 162: Afterward the Earl Grey of 1831.] + +[Footnote 163: See especially his "Letters to Lord Castlereagh," p. 814; +and "Life of Lord Liverpool," i., 512; ii., 35, 49, 127.] + +[Footnote 164: Lord Colchester's "Diary," ii., 49, dated April 3, 1806, +says eighteen years. But Mr. Windham's speech, as reported in the +"Parliamentary History," second series, vi., 685, says sixteen years; +and as he divides the ages into three classes, the two latter of which, +from twenty-four to thirty-two, and from thirty-two to forty, are of +eight years each, it is probable that the younger class was of the same +duration, i.e., from sixteen to twenty-four.] + +[Footnote 165: Lord Colchester's "Diary," ii., 300.] + +[Footnote 166: See "Diary of Lord Colchester" (Speaker at the time), c. +xxxvi., p. 316. He gives the whole of the Prince's letter to Perceval +(which had been composed by Sheridan), and of Perceval's reply. The +Regency Bill became law February 5, 1811.] + +[Footnote 167: A letter of Lord Wellesley to Lord Grey, June 4 (given by +Pearce, "Life of Lord Wellesley," iii., 270), shows that Lord Moira had +been in communication with Lord Grey and Lord Grenville before Lord +Wellesley had given up the idea of forming a ministry. And though Lord +Grey in his reply (p. 272) expresses his conviction that Lord Moira's +letter was not "an authorized communication," but only "a private +communication," it is clear that it could not have been written without +the privity of the Regent.] + +[Footnote 168: "Life of Sheridan," ii., 425.] + +[Footnote 169: Pearce's "Life of Lord Wellesley," iii., 276. All the +letters which passed between Lord Grey, Lord Grenville, Lord Moira, and +Lord Wellesley himself are given at full length by Mr. Pearce in that +chapter.] + +[Footnote 170: Stapleton's "George Canning and his Times," p. 202.] + +[Footnote 171: Mr. Stapleton affirms that his Royal Highness actually +did adopt this plan on this occasion: "His Royal Highness adopted the +unprecedented course of commanding his servants to elect the +First-minister. Their choice fell on Lord Liverpool."--_George Canning +and his Times_, p. 208. Mr. Stapleton, however, gives no authority for +this assertion, and he was probably mistaken, since Lord Liverpool's +papers afford no corroboration of it, but rather tend to disprove it.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The Toleration Act.--Impropriety of making Catholic Emancipation (or any +other Important Matter) an Open Question.--Joint Responsibility of all +the Ministers.--Detention of Napoleon at St. Helena.--Question whether +the Regent could Give Evidence in a Court of Law in a Civil +Action.--Agitation for Reform.--Public Meetings.--The Manchester +Meeting.--The Seditious Meetings Prevention Bill.--Lord Sidmouth's Six +Acts. + + +The war was daily becoming of more exciting interest, and, so far as our +armies were concerned, was rapidly assuming greater proportions. While +the Duke of Portland was still at the head of affairs, Napoleon, by his +unprovoked attacks on both the Peninsular kingdoms, had at last opened a +field of action to our armies, in which even the most sanguine of those +who placed a loyal confidence in the old invincibility of English +prowess could not have anticipated the unbroken series of glories which +were to reward their efforts. For four years Lord Wellington had +contended against all the most renowned marshals of the Empire,[172] +driving them back from impregnable lines of defence, defeating them in +pitched battles, storming their strongest fortresses, without ever +giving them room to boast of even the most momentary advantage obtained +over himself; and he was now on the eve of achieving still more +brilliant and decisive triumphs, which were never to cease till he had +carried his victorious march far into the heart of France itself. + +At such a time it may well be supposed that the attention of the new +ministry was too fully occupied with measures necessary for the conduct +of the war to leave it much time for domestic legislation. Yet even its +first session was not entirely barren. + +In the first excitement of the Restoration, when the nation was still +exasperated at the recollection of what it had suffered under the +triumphant domination of the Puritans, two laws had been framed to +chastise them, conceived in a spirit as intolerant and persecuting as +had dictated the very worst of their own. One, which was called the +Conventicle Act, inflicted on all persons above the age of sixteen, who +should be present at any religious service performed in any manner +differently from the service of the Church of England, in any +meeting-house, where more than five persons besides the occupiers of the +house should be present, severe penalties, rising gradually to +transportation; and gave a single magistrate authority to convict and to +pass sentence on the offenders. The other, commonly known as the Five +Mile Act, forbade all ministers, of any sect, who did not subscribe to +the Act of Uniformity, and who refused to swear to their belief in the +doctrine of passive obedience, from teaching in any school, and from +coming within five miles of any city, corporate town, or borough sending +members to Parliament, or any town or village in which they themselves +had resided as ministers. The latter statute had fallen into complete +disuse, and many of the provisions of the former had been relaxed, +though magistrates in general construed the relaxing enactments as +leaving the relaxations wholly at their discretion to grant or to +withhold, and were very much in the habit of withholding or abridging +them. Other statutes, such as the Test Act, had subsequently been passed +against every sect of Dissenters, though they had only imposed civil +disabilities, and had not inflicted penalties. But the new +Prime-minister was a man to whose disposition anything resembling +persecution was foreign and repugnant. Before his predecessor's unhappy +death he had already discussed with him the propriety of abolishing laws +conceived in such a spirit; and he no sooner found himself at the head +of the government than he prepared a bill to carry out his views. He +drew a distinction between the acts inflicting penalties and those which +only imposed disabilities. With these latter he did not propose to +interfere; but, in July, his colleague, Lord Castlereagh, introduced +into the House of Commons a bill to repeal the Conventicle Act and the +Five Mile Act altogether, and, when it had passed the Commons, he +himself moved its adoption by the Lords, enforcing his recommendation by +the argument, that "an enlarged and liberal toleration was the best +security to the Established Church, a Church not founded on the +exclusion of religious discussion, but, in its homilies, its canons, and +all the principles on which it rested, courting the investigation of the +Scriptures, upon which it founded its doctrines." At the same time, +while urging the repeal of acts which he truly branded as a disgrace to +the statute-book, he was not blind to the duty imposed on him, as +responsible for the public tranquillity, of taking care that meetings +held ostensibly for purposes of devotion should not be perverted to the +designs of political agitators; and therefore he provided in the bill +for the registration of all places appropriated to religious worship, +and for the exaction from "the preachers and teachers in those meetings +of some test or security in the oaths to be taken by them." He had +already secured the acquiescence of the bishops, and he was equally +successful now in winning the assent of the House. The conditions, such +as they were, did not prevent the bill from being entirely acceptable to +the Non-conformists; and though their spokesman in the House of Commons, +Mr. W. Smith, member for Norwich, confessed a wish "that it had gone a +little farther, and had granted complete religious liberty," he at the +same time expressed sincere gratitude on the part of the Non-conformists +for what was thus done for them; and declared that, "as an act of +toleration, it certainly was the most complete which had hitherto been +passed in this country." It was, in fact, the beginning of the +abandonment of that system of discouragement of and hostility to all +sects except the Established Church, which had hitherto been regarded by +a large party as one of the most essential principles of the +constitution. And as such it makes the year 1812 in some respects a +landmark in our constitutional history. + +Mr. Smith had referred to an omission which prevented him from speaking +of the bill as complete. He was alluding to the Test and Corporation +Acts, which had been passed ten years later than the Conventicle Act, in +the same reign of Charles II., and which many of the Non-conformists, +and especially the Unitarians, had urged Lord Liverpool to include in +this measure of repeal, but which he decided on retaining. As has been +said above, he drew a distinction between acts inflicting penalties and +those which went no farther than imposing political disabilities, +feeling that any relief of Protestant Dissenters from such disabilities +must inevitably lead to the concession of a similar indulgence to Roman +Catholics, and not being as yet prepared to admit to Parliament the +members of a Church which recognized the duty of obedience in any matter +to a foreign sovereign; for, as the disabilities had been originally +imposed on the Roman Catholics, so they were now maintained on +political, not religious, grounds; and even those most opposed to a +relaxation of them were careful to explain their resistance to be one +which time and a change of circumstances might mitigate.[173] + +As a fitter opportunity for discussing the question will be afforded by +the Duke of Wellington's bill, in 1829, we should not have mentioned it +at all in this place, had not Lord Liverpool, in arranging his +administration, adopted a mode of dealing with it which, though rather a +parliamentary or departmental than a constitutional innovation, was, +nevertheless, one of so strange a character as to seem to call for +examination. Ever since the formation of Walpole's ministry it had been +the invariable rule and practice for all the members of the cabinet to +act in concert on all measures of importance, or, indeed it may be said, +on all measures on which a Parliamentary vote was taken. But, in +arranging his administration after Mr. Perceval's death, Lord Liverpool +found it absolutely impossible to form one satisfactory either to the +nation or to himself if it were to be confined to members in perfect +agreement with himself on the subject of the retention of the +disabilities affecting the Roman Catholics; and therefore, in order to +be able to form a ministry generally strong and respected, he adopted +the strange expedient of allowing every member of it to act +independently on this one question. He made it what was called an open +question. The arrangement, as explained to the House of Commons by Lord +Castlereagh, the ministerial leader of that assembly, was that, "in +submission to the growing change of public opinion in favor of those +claims (the Roman Catholic claims), and the real sentiments of certain +members of the government, it had been resolved upon, as a principle, +that the discussion of this question should be left free from all +interference on the part of the government, and that every member of +that government should in it be left to the free and unbiassed +suggestions of his own conscientious discretion." + +It was an arrangement which secured the Prime-minister the co-operation +of Lord Castlereagh himself, and eventually of Mr. Canning; but it +failed to propitiate the Opposition, the leader of which in the House of +Commons, Mr. Ponsonby, turned it into open ridicule, affirming that +"nothing could be more absurd than a cabinet professing to have no +opinion on such an important subject." And it must be confessed that Mr. +Ponsonby's language on the subject seems the language of common-sense. +So far from the importance of a question justifying such an arrangement, +that importance appears rather to increase, if possible, the necessity +for absolute unanimity in the administration than to diminish it; and on +a grave and momentous subject to leave each member of a ministry free to +pronounce a separate and different judgment, so that one may resist what +his colleague advocates, is to abdicate the functions of government +altogether. To permit such liberty was either a proof that the ministry +was weak altogether--which it was not--or that its conduct on this +question was weak. In either case, it was a mischievous precedent that +was thus set;[174] and the fact that it has since been followed in more +than one instance, is so far from being any justification of it, that it +rather supplies an additional reason for condemning it, as being the +cause of wider mischief than if it had been confined to one single +question, or had influenced the conduct of one cabinet only. It has +often been said that the name "cabinet" is unknown to the law, and that +what we call the cabinet is, in fact, only a committee of the Privy +Council. As a statement of law the assertion may be correct, but it is +certain that for more than a century and a half the constitution has +adopted the principle that the cabinet consists of the holders of a +certain, to some extent a fluctuating, number of the principal state +officers; and, recognizing the responsibility of all for the actions of +each member of it, does by that recognition sanction an expectation that +on all questions, or at all events on all but those of the most trivial +character, they will speak and act with that unanimity which is +indispensable, not only to the strength of the government itself, but to +its being held in respect by the people; such respect being, indeed, +among the most essential elements of its strength. + +The incidents of the war itself do not belong to a work such as this; +but, tantalizing as it must be to an historian of any class to pass over +the brilliant series of achievements which gave Britain the glory of +being twice[175] the principal agent in the deliverance of Continental +Europe, the glories of Salamanca, Victoria, Orthes, and Waterloo must be +left to other writers, who, it is not unpatriotic to hope, may never +again have similar cause for exulting descriptions. But out of the +crowning triumph of Waterloo a difficulty arose which, though it may be +difficult to characterize the principle on which it was settled, since +it was not strictly a question of constitutional, international, or +military law; and though the circumstances were so peculiar that the +conclusion adopted is never likely to be referred to as a precedent, +seems still deserving of a brief mention, especially as an act of +Parliament was passed to sanction the decision of the cabinet. Baffled +by the vigilance of our cruisers in every attempt to escape from one of +the western ports of France to America, Napoleon was at last compelled +to surrender himself to a British squadron. But, though he was our +prisoner, the Prime-minister considered us, in all our dealings with +him, as so bound by engagements to our allies, that he was to be +regarded as "the common prisoner of all, so far that we should not give +him up or release him without the joint consent of all." The question +was full of difficulty. There were, probably, very few persons in this +or any other country who did not coincide in the impropriety of +releasing him, and so putting it in his power once more to rekindle a +war in Europe. But it was a political view of the case, founded on a +consideration of what was required by the tranquillity of Europe; and it +was not easy to lay down any legal ground to justify the determination. +Some regarded him as a French subject, and, if that view were correct, +he could hardly be detained by us as a prisoner of war after we had +concluded a treaty of peace with France. But, again, it seemed to some, +the Lord Chancellor being among them, a questionable point whether in +the last campaign we had been at war with France; whether, on the +contrary, we had not assumed the character of an ally of France against +him. And, on the supposition that we had been at war with France, a +second question was raised by Lord Ellenborough, the Chief-justice, +"what rights result on principle from a state of war, as against all the +individuals of the belligerent nations--rights, whatever they may be, +seldom, if ever, enforced against individuals, because individuals +hardly ever make war but as part of an aggregate nation." The +question--as, after consultation with Lord Ellenborough and his own +brother, Sir William Scott, it finally appeared to Lord Eldon, on whom +the Prime-minister naturally depended, as his chief legal counsellor, +though in its political aspect he judged for himself--was, firstly, +"whether it could possibly be inconsistent with justice or the law of +nations that, till some peace were made by treaty with some person +considered as Napoleon's sovereign, or till some peace were made with +himself, we should keep him imprisoned in some part of our King's +dominions." And, secondly, "whether there were any person who could +possibly be considered his sovereign, after the treaty of 1814 had +clothed him with the character of Emperor of Elba, with imperial dignity +and imperial revenue." Lord Liverpool himself, however, raised another +question: whether, by his invasion of France, he had not forfeited his +right to be regarded as an independent sovereign; resting this doubt on +a suggestion which, among others, he proposed to the Lord Chancellor, +that "at Elba he enjoyed only a limited and conditional sovereignty, +which ceased when the condition on which he held it was violated." + +This last suggestion, it must be confessed, appears untenable, as +totally inconsistent with the language of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, +under the provisions of which Napoleon became sovereign of Elba, and +which does not contain a single article which bears out the opinion that +his sovereignty was limited or conditional. On the contrary, the words +of the treaty expressly agree that "Elba should form during his life a +separate principality, which should be possessed by him in full +sovereignty and property." + +There is no need to discuss the views of Blucher. On the news of +Napoleon's landing at Frejus reaching the plenipotentiaries assembled at +the Congress of Vienna, they at once issued a declaration that, "in +breaking the convention which had established him at Elba, Buonaparte" +(for they refused him his imperial appellation of Napoleon) "had +destroyed the only legal title on which his existence depended.... He +had placed himself out of the pale of civil and social relations, and, +as the enemy and disturber of the peace of the world, he was delivered +over to public justice." And the old Prussian, burning with a desire to +avenge the indignities and injuries which he had inflicted on Prussia, +avowed his determination to execute him as an outlaw, if he should fall +into his hands. And it is still less worthwhile to inquire--though Lord +Holland in his place in Parliament did desire the House to consult the +judges on the point--whether, if Napoleon were a prisoner of war, he +"were not entitled to his _habeas corpus_, if detained after the +signature of a treaty of peace with all the powers, or any of which he +could be considered as the subject." + +On the whole, the simplest view of the position and of our detention of +him, the view most reconcilable with the principles which regulate the +waging and the relinquishing a state of war, seems to be to consider +that Napoleon was a sovereign with whom we were at war; that that war +could only be terminated by a treaty of peace between ourselves and him; +that it rested with us to conclude, or to abstain from concluding, any +such treaty; and that, till we should conclude it, we had clearly a +right to detain him as a prisoner of war. It must, at the same time, be +admitted that modern history afforded no precedent for the detention of +a prisoner for his whole life (unless, indeed, Elizabeth's imprisonment +of the Queen of Scots may be considered as one), and that the most solid +justification for it was necessity. To quote the language of Lord Eldon, +"I believe it will turn out that, if you can't make this a _casus +exceptionis_ or _omissus_ in the law of nations, founded upon necessity, +you will not really know what to say upon it. _Salus Reipublicae suprema +lex_, as to one state; _Salus omnium Rerumpublicarum_ must be the +_suprema lex_ as to this case."[176] + +In the course of the year 1818 a somewhat singular question as to the +position of the Regent was raised by a claim advanced by Colonel +Berkeley to produce his Royal Highness as a witness in a court of law. +The Prince consulted the Prime-minister, and the Prime-minister referred +it to the Attorney and Solicitor General, not concealing his own +impression that it could not be consistent with his constitutional +position and prerogative for the King to appear as a witness to be +subjected to examination and cross-examination.[177] They, in their +statement of opinion, assumed it to be an undeniable principle of the +constitution that the sovereign, "by reason of his royal character, +could not give testimony." And therefore they had no doubt that the +Regent, exercising his authority, was equally prevented from so doing. +Colonel Berkeley's counsel had urged that, even if he could not appear +in open court and be sworn, he had the privilege of communicating his +evidence in a peculiar mode, by certificate under the Sign Manual or +Great Seal. But the Attorney and Solicitor General professed that they +could not discover whence this last privilege was derived; they urged, +as an insurmountable objection to such a contrivance, that "all +instruments under the Sign Manual or Great Seal must, in point of form, +be in the name of and on behalf of the King, which would manifestly be +incongruous when the evidence certified was not that of the King, but of +the Regent himself." And they quoted a case in which Lord Chief-justice +Willes had said "that the certificate of the King, under his Sign +Manual, of a fact (except in an old case in Chancery) had always been +refused." As it had been urged also, on Colonel Berkeley's behalf, that +the Prince had formerly "joined in proving the will of the Duke of +Brunswick," his brother-in-law, they farther expressed an opinion that +"he ought not to have done so, but should have left it to the other +executors." + +On the point whether "the King himself could give evidence orally or in +any other manner," their opinion expressed very plainly the principle on +which they maintained that he could not. "That he was not compellable to +do so; that he could not be sworn (there being no power capable of +administering an oath to him in a court of justice). That, whether his +testimony be given _viva voce_ or otherwise, no question in chief or on +cross-examination could be proposed to him, was admitted by Colonel +Berkeley's counsel. And that his testimony must be conclusive as to the +facts stated by him, appeared necessarily to follow from the perfection +ascribed by law to his royal character. For such remarkable exceptions, +therefore, to the case of all other witnesses they could not but think +that strong and decisive authority ought to be produced; while the +silence of text-writers on the subject, so far from being favorable to +the notion that the King can give evidence, appeared to afford a +directly contrary inference." And they summed up their opinion in a few +words: "that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, while in the personal +exercise of the royal authority, was in the situation of the King in +this respect, and that the King could not by any mode give evidence as a +witness in a civil suit." + +It is very improbable that Colonel Berkeley should have made the +application without previously ascertaining the willingness of the +Prince to give evidence, could such a course be permitted. And as his +Royal Highness, on receiving this opinion of the law-officers of the +crown, did not come forward as a witness, that opinion may be held to +have settled the question. And, apart from the constitutional objections +relied on by those able lawyers, it is evident that there would be +serious practical objections to the sovereign being made a witness. It +would be derogatory to his royal character to put himself in a position +where comments could be made, either by the opposing barrister or by the +public outside, on his evidence. And, on the other hand, it would be +perilously unfair to one litigant for his adversary to be able to +produce a witness who was not subject to cross-examination, nor to +remarks upon his testimony. + +The reign of George III. was now drawing to its close, and, if it +produced no legislation affecting the principles of the constitution (it +will presently be seen that it did produce one measure which its +opponents branded as a violation of these principles), yet in its last +years it witnessed the revival of an agitation which was kept up with +varying animation till it was temporarily quieted by the concession of +its demands. We have seen that one of Pitt's earliest efforts at +legislation had been directed to a reform in Parliament, an object which +to the end of his life he considered of great importance, though the +revolutionary spirit aroused by the troubles in France, and the open +sympathy with the French Jacobins and Republicans avowed by a party +among ourselves--which, if numerically weak, was sufficiently loud and +active to be dangerous--prevented him from ever re-opening the subject. +But, though the French Revolution in this way proved for the time an +insurmountable obstacle to the success of the reformers, in another way +it insured the revival of the question, by the general spirit of inquiry +which it awakened among the population at large, and which soon went +beyond the investigation of any single abuse or anomaly. For even less +far-sighted statesmen than Pitt confessed the existence of much that was +not only theoretically indefensible, but practically mischievous. The +period, little short of a century, which elapsed between the death of +William III. and Pitt's accession to office had been one of almost +complete stagnation and apathy. The Scotch Union, the Septennial Bill, +the establishment of a militia, and the Place Bill of 1743 were the only +instances of any legislation deserving the name of constitutional which +made the reigns of Anne and the first two Georges memorable. And in the +very nature of things it was impossible that, after so long a slumber, +there should not be much to do, and many, whether capable or incapable, +eager to bear a share in the work. The sudden cessation of the +excitement of war had begotten a restless craving for some other +excitement to take its place, and none seemed so creditable as energy +and acuteness in the discovery and removal of abuses. Complaints were +made, and not without reason, of the working of the poor-law; of the +terrible severity of our criminal code; of the hardships and sufferings +of the younger members of the working classes, especially in the +factories; of the ignorance of a large portion of the people, in itself +as prolific a cause of mischief and crime as any other. But, though +committees and commissions were appointed by Parliament to investigate +the condition of the kingdom in respect of these matters, a feeling was +growing up that no effectual remedy would be applied till the +constitution of the House of Commons itself were reformed, so as to make +it a more real representation of the people than it could as yet be +considered. And a farther stimulus to this wish for such a Parliamentary +reform was supplied by the distress which a combination of circumstances +spread among almost all classes in the years immediately following the +conclusion of the second treaty of peace.[178] The harvests of the years +1816 and 1817 were unusually deficient, and this pressed heavily on the +farmers and landed proprietors. The merchants and manufacturers, who, +while every part of the Continent was disturbed or threatened by the +operations of contending armies, had practically enjoyed almost a +monopoly of the trade of the world, found their profits reduced, by the +new competition to which the re-establishment of peace exposed them, to +a point which compelled them to a severe reduction of expenditure. The +uncertainty felt as to the results to be brought about by the inevitable +repeal of the Bank Act of 1797, and the return to cash payments--results +which it was impossible to estimate correctly beforehand--had a tendency +to augment the distress, by the general feeling of uneasiness and +distrust which it created. And the employers of labor could not suffer +without those who depended on them for employment suffering still more +severely. The consequence was, that there was a general stagnation of +trade; numbers of artisans and laborers of every kind were thrown out of +work, and their enforced idleness and poverty, which was its result, +made them ready to become the tools of demagogues such as are never +wanting in the hour of distress and perplexity. Meetings were convened, +ostensibly to petition for reform, but in reality to afford +opportunities for mob-orators, eager for notoriety, to denounce the +government and those whom they styled the "ruling classes," as the +causes of the present and past evils. From these meetings multitudes +issued forth ripe for mischief. In some places they rose against the +manufacturers, and destroyed their machines, to the recent introduction +of which they attributed their want of employment. In others, still more +senselessly, they even set fire to the stores of grain in the +corn-dealers' warehouses, aggravating by their destruction the most +painful of their own sufferings. On one occasion, a mob which had +assembled in one of the eastern districts of London, on pretence of +framing a petition to be presented to the Prince Regent, at the close of +the meeting paraded the streets with a tricolor flag, the emblem of the +French Revolutionists, and pillaged a number of shops, especially those +of the gun-makers, spreading terror through all that side of the +metropolis. In at least one instance the violence of the rioters rose to +the height of treason. Assassins fired at the Regent in the Park as he +was returning from the House of Lords, whither he had been to open +Parliament; and when it was found that they had missed their aim, the +mob attacked the royal carriage, pelting it with large stones, and +breaking the windows; nor was it without some difficulty that the escort +of troops cleared a path for him through the mob, and enabled him to +reach Carlton House in safety. + +The first effect of these outrages was to damage the cause of Reform +itself, even such uncompromising reformers as Lord Grey denouncing +"meetings at which extensive schemes of Reform were submitted to +individuals incapable of judging of their propriety." The second +consequence was to compel the ministers to take steps to prevent a +recurrence of such tumults and crimes. At first they were contented with +a temporary suspension of the _Habeas Corpus_ Act; but, even while that +suspension was in force, it did not entirely prevent meetings, at some +of which the language of the speakers certainly bordered on sedition; +and when the suspension was taken off, fresh meetings on a larger scale, +and of a more tumultuous character than ever, were held in more than one +rural district; finally, in July of 1819, the whole kingdom was thrown +into a violent state of excitement by a meeting held at Birmingham, at +which the leaders, assuming the newly-invented party name of Radicals, +not only demanded the remodelling of the whole system of government, +but, because Birmingham as yet sent no members to the House of Commons, +took it upon themselves to elect Sir Charles Wolseley, a baronet of +respectable family, as their representative to the Parliament, and +charged him to claim a place in the House of Commons in the next +session, by the side of those elected in obedience to the royal writs. +Sir Charles was at once arrested on the charge of having at this meeting +used seditious language calculated to lead to a breach of the peace; but +the Radical leaders, far from being intimidated by this demonstration of +vigor on the part of the government, immediately summoned a similar +meeting in Manchester, announcing their intention to elect a +representative of that great town likewise, which, though the largest of +all the manufacturing towns, was also unrepresented in the Imperial +Parliament. The magistrates prohibited the meeting. It was only +postponed for a week, when the people assembled in such formidable +numbers (no estimate reckoned them at fewer than 60,000), that the +ordinary civil authorities deemed themselves unequal to dealing with it, +and called in the aid first of the Yeomanry and then of a hussar +regiment. The soldiers behaved with great forbearance, as soldiers +always do behave on such occasions; but they were bound to execute the +orders which were given them to arrest some of the leaders, and, in the +tumult which was the inevitable consequence of their attempt to force a +way through so dense a crowd, three or four lives were, unfortunately, +lost. + +So unusual a catastrophe called out the energies of both parties. The +Radical leaders published manifestoes declaring the people had been +"massacred" by the soldiers by the orders of the government. Meetings +were held to denounce the conduct of the ministers, one being even +promoted by Lord Fitzwilliam, as Lord-lieutenant of Yorkshire, a dignity +of which he was instantly deprived; while, on the other hand, the +grand-juries of Cheshire and Lancashire made reports of the condition of +those counties to the Secretary of State, which showed that a most +alarming spirit prevailed over the greater part of the district. "The +most inflammatory publications had been issued in the principal towns, +at a price which put them within the reach of the poorest classes of +society. The training and military drilling of large bodies of men under +regular leaders had been carried on to a great extent for some time, +chiefly by night; and there was no doubt that an extensive manufacture +of arms was going on." What was a hardly inferior symptom of danger was +a system of intimidation which prevailed to a most serious degree. Many +magistrates had received notices threatening their lives, and +combinations had been formed to withhold custom from publicans and +shopkeepers who had come forward to support the civil power. In many +parts of the two counties the grand-juries declared "that no warrant of +arrest or other legal process could be executed; the payment of taxes +had ceased, and the landlords were threatened with the discontinuance of +their rents." + +It was admitted that the spirit of disaffection was local, confined to +three or four counties; but those counties were, next to Middlesex +itself, the most populous and among the most important in the kingdom, +and there was danger lest the feeling, if not checked, might spread. The +crisis seemed so momentous, that some even of the Opposition leaders +volunteered their counsels and aid to the ministers in dealing with it. +And the ministers, after long deliberation, decided on calling +Parliament together in November, and introducing some bills which they +conceived necessary to enable them to restore and preserve tranquillity. +They were six in number; and--perhaps, with some sarcastic reference to +Gardiner's Six Acts in the sixteenth century--they were very commonly +spoken of as Lord Sidmouth's Six Acts, that noble lord being the +Home-secretary, to whose department they belonged. It is not necessary +here to do more than mention the general purport of five of them. One +prohibited military training without the sanction of the government; +another empowered magistrates to search for arms which they had reason +to believe were collected for illegal purposes; the third authorized the +seizure of seditious and blasphemous libels; the fourth subjected +publications below a certain size to the same stamp as that required for +a newspaper; the fifth regulated the mode of proceeding in trials for +misdemeanor of a political character. But these enactments were regarded +as little more than arrangements of detail or procedure involving no +principles, and some of them were admitted even by the most steadfast +opponents of the ministers to be necessary. But the sixth, designed to +restrain the practice of holding large open-air meetings--not, indeed, +forever, but for a certain period, fixed at five years--was strongly +resisted by the greater portion of the Whig party in both Houses, as a +denial to the people of one of their most ancient and constitutional +rights.[179] + +Its principal clauses enacted that "no meeting exceeding the number of +fifty persons (except a meeting of any county or division of any county, +called by the Lord-lieutenant or sheriff of such county, etc., or by +five or more acting justices of the peace for such county, or by the +major part of the grand-jury; or any meeting of any city, borough, etc., +called by the mayor or other head officer of such city, etc.) should be +holden for the purpose or on the pretext of deliberating upon any public +grievance, or upon any matter relating to any trade, manufacture, etc., +or upon any matter of Church or State, or of considering, proposing, or +agreeing to any petition, address, etc., etc., unless in the parish or +township within which the persons calling any such meeting usually +dwell;" and it required six days' notice of the intention to hold such +meetings, with their time, place, and object, to be given to a +magistrate. It empowered the magistrate to whom such notice was given to +alter the time and place. It forbade adjournments intended to evade +these prohibitions. It forbade any one to attend such meetings except +freeholders of the county, or parishioners of the parish, or members of +the corporation of the city or borough in which they were held, or +members of the House of Commons for such places. It empowered +magistrates to proceed to the places where such meetings were being +held, and, if they thought it necessary, to require the aid of +constables. It enacted that any meeting, the tendency of which should be +"to incite or stir up the people to hatred and contempt of the person of +his Majesty, his heirs and successors, or of the government or +constitution of this country as by law established, should be deemed an +unlawful assembly." It empowered one or more justices of the peace, in +the event of any meeting being held contrary to the provisions of this +act, to warn every one present, in the King's name, to depart; and made +those who did not depart in obedience to such warning liable to +prosecution for felony, and, if convicted, to seven years' +transportation. It forbade the display of flags, banners, or ensigns at +any meeting, and the employment of any drum, or military or other music; +but it excepted from its operation "any meeting or assembly which should +be wholly holden in any room." + +There was one peculiarity in the line taken by the opponents of the +bill, that they did not deny that the meetings which had induced the +ministers to propose it were an evil, dangerous to the general +tranquillity; but it was strongly urged by Lord Erskine and others that +the existing laws were quite strong enough to deal with them, so that a +new enactment was superfluous; and by others, in both Houses, that such +meetings were "an ancient and constitutional mode of discussing abuses +or petitioning Parliament," any interference with which was a greater +evil than the meetings themselves, as being a violation of the +constitution. Mr. Brougham in particular admitted, to the full extent of +the assertions of the ministers themselves, "the wickedness and folly of +many of the speeches" made at the recent meetings. He expressed with +great force his entire disapproval of the system on which these meetings +had been conducted, and admitted that the martial array which had been +exhibited, and the vastness of the numbers of those who had attended, +were of themselves calculated to excite alarm; but he declared that "he +could not on that account acquiesce in a total subversion of a popular +right." On the other hand, the ministers themselves did not deny "the +general right of the people to petition the Legislature, or to carry +their addresses to the foot of the throne. And therefore (as Lord +Harrowby, the President of the Council, admitted) there could be no +doubt of their right to assemble, so far as was necessary to agree to +their petitions or addresses. It was a right that did not depend on the +Bill of Rights, on which it was usually grounded, but had existed long +before. But this bill," he contended, "imposed no restrictions on the +legitimate enjoyment of that privilege; it only regulated the meetings +at which it was to be exercised." And Lord Liverpool affirmed that the +bill was not only "consistent with the existing laws and principles of +the constitution, but was even proposed in furtherance of those +principles, and for the purpose of protecting the people of this country +against a series of evils which, if not checked, must subvert their laws +and liberties." + +In attempting to form a correct judgment on the question whether this +bill were constitutional or unconstitutional, it must, I think, be +admitted that, as has been remarked before, the terms "constitutional" +and "unconstitutional" are somewhat vague and elastic. There is no one +document--not Magna Charta, nor the Petition of Eight, nor the Bill of +Rights--which can be said to contain the whole of the British +constitution. Its spirit and principles are, indeed, to be found in all +the laws, to which they give animation and life, but not in any one law. +And among its leading principles are those which embrace the right of +every individual to freedom of action and freedom of speech, so long as +he does not commit any crime himself, nor tempt others to do so. Yet it +does not follow that a new enactment which for a while abridges or +suspends that freedom of action or speech is inconsistent with those +constitutional principles. + +Ministers, to whom the government of a country is intrusted, do wrong if +they limit their operations to the punishment of offences which have +been committed. It is at least equally their duty, as far as possible, +to prevent their commission; to take precautionary measures, especially +at times when there is notorious danger of offences being committed. At +the same time they are bound not to legislate under the influence of +panic; not to yield to fears having no substantial ground. And in their +measures of precaution they are farther bound to depart from or overstep +the ordinary law as little as is compatible with the attainment of their +object. In all such cases each action of theirs must stand or fall by +its own merits; by the greatness of the emergency which has caused it, +and by its sufficiency for its end. For as no law, except such as +forbids moral crimes, is invariable, so even the dearest privileges of +each subject, being his for the common good, are liable to temporary +suspension for that common good. But the burden of justification lies on +those who propose that suspension. + +Now, that this bill was such a suspension of the long-established rights +of the subject, and so far an overstepping of the principles of the +constitution, is admitted by the very fact of its framers only proposing +for it a temporary authority. Had it not invaded a valuable and real +right, it might have been made of perpetual obligation. But it is not +easy to see how it can be denied that the dangers against which it was +intended to guard were also real. It was certain that itinerant +demagogues were visiting districts with which they had no connection, +for the sole purpose of stirring up political agitation. It was clear +that such meetings as they convened, where those assembled could only be +counted by tens of thousands, were too large for deliberation, and were +only meant for intimidation; and equally clear that, though the existing +laws may have armed the magistrate with authority to disperse such +meetings, they did not furnish him with the means of doing so without at +least the risk of bloodshed (for such a risk must be involved in the act +of putting soldiers in motion), and still less did they invest him with +the desirable power of preventing such meetings. It was necessary, +therefore, to go back to the original principles and objects of every +constitution, the tranquillity, safety, and welfare of the nation at +large. And it does not appear that this bill went beyond what was +necessary for that object. Indeed, though party divisions are not always +trustworthy tests of the wisdom or propriety of a measure, the unusual +magnitude of the majorities by which on this occasion the minister was +supported in both Houses may fairly be regarded as a testimony to the +necessity of the bill,[180] while its sufficiency was proved by the +abandonment of all such meetings, and the general freedom from agitation +in every part Of the country which prevailed in the following year, +though its most remarkable incident was one of which demagogues might +well have taken advantage, if they had not had so convincing a proof of +the power of government, and of the resolution of the ministers to exert +it.[181] + +Notes: + +[Footnote 172: Against Junot, at Vimiera and Rolica, in 1808; Soult, at +Oporto, and Victor, at Talavera, in 1809; Massena and Ney, at Busaco and +Torres Vedras, in 1810; Massena and Bessieres, at Fuentes d'Onor, in +1811. Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz had been taken in 1812, in spite of the +neighborhood of Soult and Marmont. In July, 1813, a month after the +formation of Lord Liverpool's ministry, he routed Marmont at Salamanca; +in 1813 he took Madrid, and routed Jourdain at Vittoria; and, having +subsequently defeated Soult at Sauroren, he crossed the French frontier +in October.] + +[Footnote 173: A resolution, moved by Mr. Canning, to take the claims of +the Roman Catholics into consideration in the next session had been +carried in June by the large majority of 129; and when Lord Wellesley +brought forward a similar motion in the House of Lords, not only did +Lord Liverpool "protest against its being inferred from any declaration +of his that it was, or ever had been, his opinion that under no +circumstances would it be possible to make any alteration in the laws +respecting the Roman Catholics," but the Chancellor, Lord Eldon, who was +generally regarded as the stoutest champion of the existing law, rested +his opposition entirely on political grounds, explaining carefully that +he opposed the motion, "not because he quarrelled with the religion of +the Roman Catholics, but because their religious opinions operated on +their political principles in such a way as to render it necessary to +adopt some defence against them," and met the motion by moving the +previous question, avowedly because "he did not wish, at once and +forever, to shut the door of conciliation;" and the previous question +was only carried by a single vote--126 to 125.] + +[Footnote 174: "It (difference on the Catholic question) was an evil +submitted to by the government, of which Mr. Fox, Lord Grenville, and +Lord Grey were members, in the years 1806, 1807, as well as by the +governments of Mr. Perceval, Lord Liverpool, and the Duke of +Wellington."--_Peel's Memoirs_, i., 62. This passage would seem to imply +that Peel believed the Catholic question to have been left "open" in +1806; but there is not, so far as the present writer is aware, any trace +of such an arrangement on record, and Lord Liverpool's letter to the +King, of November 10, 1826 ("Life," iii., 436), shows clearly that he +was not aware of such a precedent for the arrangement which, in 1812, +"he and others advised his Majesty" to consent to. Moreover, the +condemnation passed on it by Mr. Ponsonby, who had been Chancellor of +Ireland in 1806 and 1807, seems a clear proof that he knew nothing of +it, though it is hardly possible that he should have been ignorant of it +if it had existed.] + +[Footnote 175: To whom the chief glory of the Waterloo campaign belongs +there can, of course, be no doubt; and though the Austrians and +Prussians put forward a claim to an equal share, and Russia even to a +preponderating one, in the first deposition of Napoleon, he himself +constantly attributed his fall more to the Peninsular contest than to +any of his wars east of the Rhine. And, indeed, it is superfluous to +point out that almost to the last he gained occasional victories over +the Continental armies, but that he never gained one advantage over the +British force; and that Wellington invaded France the first week of +October, 1813--nearly three months before a single Russian or German +soldier crossed the Rhine.] + +[Footnote 176: Letter to Sir W. Scott, Twiss's "Life of Lord Eldon," +ii., 272. It is remarkable that in his "Life of Lord Ellenborough" Lord +Campbell takes no notice of this case.] + +[Footnote 177: The opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor General, Sir S. +Shepperd and Sir R. Gifford, is given at length in the author's "Life of +Lord Liverpool," ii., 373.] + +[Footnote 178: It is a shrewd observation of Sully, that it is never any +abstract desire for theoretical reforms, or even for increased +privileges, which excites in lower classes to discontent and outrage, +but only impatience under actual suffering.] + +[Footnote 179: The bill (entitled "The Seditious Meetings Prevention +Bill"), 60 George III., c. 6, is given at full length in Hansard's +"Parliamentary Debates," series 1., vol. xli., p. 1655.] + +[Footnote 180: In the House of Lords the majority was 135 to 38; in the +House of Commons, 851 to 128. And even of this minority, many would have +supported the bill, if the ministers would have consented to adopt an +amendment proposed by Lord Althorp, to limit its operation to a few of +the northern and midland counties, in which alone, as he contended, any +spirit of dangerous disaffection had been exhibited.] + +[Footnote 181: It may be as well to mention that these pages were +written in the autumn of 1880.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Survey of the Reign of George III.--The Cato Street Conspiracy.--The +Queen's Return to England, and the Proceedings against her.--The King +Visits Ireland and Scotland.--Reform of the Criminal Code.--Freedom of +Trade.--Death of Lord Liverpool.--The Duke of Wellington becomes +Prime-minister.--Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act.--O'Connell is +Elected for Clare.--Peel Resigns his Seat for Oxford.--Catholic +Emancipation.--Question of the Endowment of the Roman Catholic +Clergy.--Constitutional Character of the Emancipation.--The Propriety of +Mr. Peel's Resignation of his Seat for Oxford Questioned. + + +In the first month of 1820 George III. died. His had been an eventful +reign, strangely checkered with disaster and glory; but, if we compare +its close with its commencement, it was still more remarkably +distinguished by a development of the resources and an increase in the +wealth and power of the nation, to which the history of no other country +in the same space of time affords any parallel. + +Regarded from the first point of view, our successes greatly outweighed +our disasters. The loss of our North American Colonies, the only event +which can be so described, was far more than counterbalanced by our vast +acquisitions in India, at the Cape of Good Hope, and Malta; while to our +maritime supremacy, in the complete establishment of which Rodney and +Nelson had crowned the work of Anson and Hawke, was now added a splendor +of military renown far surpassing that achieved by any other of the +nations which had borne their share in the overthrow of Napoleon. + +The increase of our resources is sufficiently shown by a single fact. At +his accession George III. found the kingdom engaged in the great seven +years' war; one British army employed beyond the Rhine, another in +India; fleets traversing the seas in every direction, capturing the +Havana, in the West Indies; Manilla, in the East; and routing French +squadrons in sight of their own harbors. While, to maintain these varied +armaments, supplies were voted by Parliament in 1761 to what Lord +Stanhope calls "the unprecedented amount of almost twenty millions." In +1813 the supplies reached nearly six times that amount,[182] and that +prodigious sum was raised with greater ease than the revenue of 1761, +the interest on the necessary loans being also lower than it had been on +the former occasion. + +The philosophical man of science will point with at least equal +exultation to the great discoveries in art and science; to the +achievements of the mechanic, the engineer, and the chemist; to the +labors of Brindley and Arkwright and Watts, to which, indeed, this great +expansion of the resources and growth of the wealth of the country is +principally owing. + +While, as the preceding chapters of this work have been designed to +show, our political progress and advancement had been no less steady or +valuable; yet, important from a constitutional point of view as were +many of the labors of our legislators in these sixty years, they are +surpassed in their influence on the future history of the nation, as +well as in the reality and greatness of the changes which were produced +by them in the constitution, by the transactions of the reigns of the +next two sovereigns, though the two united scarcely equalled in their +duration a quarter of that of their venerable father. + +It has been seen how Pitt was baffled in his efforts to remodel the +House of Commons, and to remove the disabilities under which the Roman +Catholics labored, the reasons for which, even granting that they had +been sufficient to justify their original imposition, had, in his +judgment, long passed away. His pursuit of the other great object of his +domestic policy, the emancipation of trade from the shackles which +impeded its universal development, was rudely interrupted by the +pressure of the war forced upon him by that very nation which he had +desired to make the first partner, if one may use such an expression, in +the prosperity which he hoped to diffuse by his commercial treaty with +her. But, as in the case of other men in advance of their age, the +principles which he had asserted were destined to bear fruit at a later +period. And the mere fact of a change in the person of the sovereign +seemed to make a change in the policy hitherto pursued less unnatural. + +Yet, memorable as the reforms which it witnessed were destined to make +it, no reign ever commenced with more sinister omens than that at which +we have now arrived. The new King had not been on the throne a month, +when a conspiracy was discovered, surpassing in its treasonable atrocity +any that had been heard of in the kingdom since the days of the +Gunpowder Plot; and, even before those concerned in that foul crime had +been brought to punishment, the public mind was yet more generally and +profoundly agitated by a scandal which, in one point of view, was still +more painful, as in some degree involving the whole kingdom in its +disgrace. + +The marriage of the present sovereign to Mrs. Fitzherbert has already +been mentioned. A few years afterward, in the year 1795, regarding that +marriage as illegal, he had contracted a second with his cousin, the +Princess Caroline of Brunswick. But, even in royal families, a more +unfortunate alliance had never taken place. They had never met till she +arrived in England for the wedding; and, as he had never professed any +other motive for consenting to the match than a desire to obtain the +payment of his debts, he did not think it necessary to disguise his +feelings, or to change his habits, or even to treat her with decency for +a single day. On his very first introduction to her he behaved to her +with marked discourtesy.[183] Shortly after the marriage he formally +separated himself from her, and, both before and after the separation, +lived in undisguised licentiousness. She, on her part, indignant at his +neglect and infidelity, and exasperated at the restrictions which he +presently placed on her intercourse with their only child, made no +secret of her feelings, and on many occasions displayed such disregard +of the ordinary rules of prudence and propriety, that he had some color +for charges of infidelity to her marriage vows which, after a few years, +he brought against her. The King, her uncle, could not refuse to appoint +a commission to investigate the truth of the accusation; but the +commissioners unanimously acquitted her of any graver fault than +imprudence. She was again received at court, from which she had been +excluded while the inquiry was pending; but her husband's animosity +toward her was not appeased. As time wore on, and as the King's +derangement deprived her of her only protector, it even seemed as if he +desired to give it all the notoriety possible, till at last, wearied out +by his implacable persecution, she sought and obtained his permission to +quit the country and take up her abode abroad. It was a most unfortunate +resolution on her part. She fixed her residence in Italy, where she +gradually learned to neglect the caution which she had observed in +England, till, after a year or two, reports arose of her intimacy with a +servant whom she had raised from a menial situation to that of the chief +officer of her household, and whom she admitted to a familiarity of +intercourse which others besides her husband thought quite incompatible +with innocence. He sent agents into Italy to inquire into the truth of +those rumors; and their report so greatly confirmed them that, even +before the King's death, he laid it before the Prime-minister, with a +demand that he should at once take steps to procure him a divorce, in +which he professed to believe that the Princess herself would willingly +acquiesce. He was so far correct, that her legal advisers were willing +to advise her to consent to "a formal separation, to be ratified by an +act of Parliament." But such an arrangement fell far short of the +Prince's wishes. The Princess Charlotte, the heiress to his throne, had +died in childbirth two years before, and he was anxious to be set free +to marry again. The ministers were placed in a situation of painful +embarrassment. There was an obvious difficulty in pointing out to one +who already stood toward them in the character of their sovereign, and +who must inevitably soon become so, that his own conduct made the +prospect of obtaining a divorce from the Ecclesiastical Courts hopeless; +and the only other expedients calculated to attain his end, "a direct +application to Parliament for relief, founded upon the special +circumstances of the case," or "a proceeding against the Princess for +high-treason," were but little more promising. Indeed, it was afterward +ascertained to be the unanimous opinion of the judges that the charge of +high-treason could not be legally sustained, since the individual who +was alleged to be the partner in the criminality imputed to her was a +foreigner, and therefore, "owing no allegiance to the crown," could not +be said to have violated it.[184] + +He chafed under their resistance to his wish, and would have deprived +them of their offices, could he have relied on any successors whom he +might give them proving more complaisant; but, before he could make up +his mind, the death of George III. forced upon both him and them the +consideration of his and his wife's position, since it made it necessary +to remodel the prayer for the royal family, and instantly to decide +whether her name and title as Queen were to be inserted in it. He was +determined that they should not be mentioned; and, as the practice of +praying for a Queen Consort by name appeared not to have been +invariable, they were willing to gratify him on this point, though it +was evidently highly probable that she would consider this as a fresh +insult, sufficient to justify her in carrying out a threat, which she +had recently held out, of returning to England. Her ablest advisers did +not, indeed, regard it in this light, since the prayer as now framed +implored the Divine protection for "all the royal family" in general +terms, in which she might be supposed to be included, and made no +separate mention of any member of the family.[185] But, unfortunately, +she was much more under the influence of counsellors who were neither +lawyers nor statesmen, but who only desired to use her as a tool to +obtain notoriety for themselves. A long negotiation ensued. It was +inevitable that some application should be made to Parliament in +connection with her affairs, since the annuity which had been settled +upon her by Parliament in 1814, on the occasion of her departure from +England, had expired with the life of the late King. And the ministers +proposed that that annuity should now be raised from L35,000 to L50,000, +on condition of her remaining abroad, having, by their positive refusal +to concur in any proceedings against her while she remained abroad, +extorted the King's acquiescence in this proposal, though he called it a +"great and painful sacrifice of his personal feelings." They sought to +conciliate her acceptance of it by mentioning her in it by her title of +"Queen," and by coupling with it a sanction to her appointment of her +law-officers, an Attorney and Solicitor General, an act which could only +be exercised by a Queen. And, though a part of the condition of her +residence abroad required that she should do so under some other title, +that seemed only a conforming to an ordinary practice of royal princes +on their travels. At the same time, the ministers stated frankly to Mr. +Brougham, a lawyer of the highest reputation as an advocate, whom she +had appointed her Attorney-general, that, if she should reject the +offer, and come to England, as she had already announced her intention +of doing, such a course would leave them no alternative, but would +compel them to institute proceedings against her. + +Eventually she preferred the advice of others to that of Mr. Brougham, +or, as it may, perhaps, be more consistent with the real fact to say, +she yielded to her own feelings of hatred of her husband, which, it must +be confessed, were far from unnatural. She believed, or professed to +believe, that he had more to dread from an exposure of his conduct than +she had from any revelations of her actions; and, under this impression, +in the spring she crossed the Channel and took up her residence in +London. It was a step which seemed to Lord Liverpool to leave him no +alternative, and, in consequence, he at once took the course which he +had from the beginning conceived her arrival would render indispensable. +He brought down to Parliament a royal message from the King, announcing +that her return to England had made it necessary to communicate to the +Houses documents relating to her conduct since her departure from the +kingdom, which he recommended to their immediate and serious attention. +He proposed the appointment by ballot of a committee of the House of +Lords to examine those documents; and when the committee had reported +that the documents containing "allegations deeply affecting the honor of +the Queen, etc., ... appeared to the committee calculated to affect not +only the honor of the Queen, but also the dignity of the crown and the +moral feelings and honor of the country, so that in their opinion, they +should become the subject of a solemn inquiry, which might be best +effected in the course of a legislative proceeding," he introduced a +"Bill of Pains and Penalties" to deprive her of her title of Queen, and +to annul her marriage. + +No one would willingly dwell on so melancholy and disgraceful a subject. +As far as the Queen was concerned, a protracted investigation, during +which a number of witnesses, favorable and unfavorable, were examined, +left no doubt on the mind of almost all dispassionate people that the +misconduct alleged against her had been abundantly proved. At the same +time there was a feeling equally general that the King's treatment of +her from the very beginning of their married life had disentitled him to +any kind of relief; and this sentiment was so strongly shown by the +gradual diminution of the majority in favor of the bill, as it proceeded +through its several stages, that Lord Liverpool, who had already +abandoned the clause annulling the marriage, eventually withdrew the +whole bill, perceiving the impossibility of inducing the House of +Commons to pass it when it should go down to that House. + +No act of Lord Liverpool's ministry has been attacked with greater +bitterness than that of allowing any proceedings whatever to be taken +against the Queen, partly on the ground that, however profligate her +conduct had been, it had certainly not been more gross than that of her +husband, which had provoked and given opportunity for her errors; partly +because a great scandal was thus published to the world, and a shock was +given to the national decency and morality which the ministers, above +all men, were bound to avoid; partly, also, because the mode of +proceeding adopted was alleged to be wholly unprecedented; and because, +as was contended, the power of Parliament ought not to be invoked to +inflict penalties which, if deserved, should have been left to the +courts of law. It cannot be denied that there is weight in these +objections; but, in estimating their force, it must be considered that +every part of the conduct of the ministers showed that their motive was +not the gratification of the King's private feelings, whether directed +to the object of indulging his enmity against his wife or to that of +obtaining freedom to contract a second marriage; on the contrary, so +long as the Queen remained abroad, no language could be more distinct, +consistently with the respect due to his royal dignity, than that in +which they expressed to him their insurmountable objection to every mode +of proceeding against her which he had suggested, founded almost equally +on considerations of "the interests of his Majesty and of the +monarchy,"[186] and "the painful obligation" under which they conceived +themselves to lie "of postponing their regard for his Majesty's feelings +to great public interests." + +But when the Queen came to England the case was greatly altered. The +question now forced on the consideration of the cabinet was, not the +mode of avoiding an intolerable scandal, but the choice between two +scandals, both of the gravest character. The scandal to be dreaded from +the revelations of the conduct of both King and Queen, that could not +fail to result from the investigation which, in justice, must precede +any attempt to legislate on the subject, was, indeed, as great as ever; +but it had now to be compared with the alternative scandal of allowing a +woman lying under such grievous imputations to preside over the British +court, as, if resident in England, and in undisturbed possession of her +royal rank, she of necessity must preside. The consequence would +evidently have been that the court would have been deserted by all who +could give lustre and dignity to it by their position and character; +and, in the slights thus offered to her, royalty and the monarchy +themselves would seem to be brought into contempt. The latter scandal, +too, would be the more permanent. Grievous and shameful as might be the +disclosures which must be anticipated from an investigation in which the +person accused must be permitted the employment of every means of +defence, including recrimination, the scandal was yet one which would, +to a certain extent, pass away with the close of the inquiry. But, if +she were left undisturbed in the enjoyment of her royal rank, and of +privileges which could not be separated from it, that scandal would last +as long as her life--longer, in all probability, than the reign. It is +hardly too much to say that the monarchy itself might have been +endangered by the spectacle of such a King and such a Queen; and the +ministers might fairly contend that, of two great dangers and evils, +they had, on the whole, chosen the least. + +Lastly, if the Queen's conduct was to be investigated, though the mode +adopted was denounced as unconstitutional by the Opposition (for, not +greatly to their credit, the leading Whigs made her guilt or innocence a +party question), it does not seem to deserve the epithet, though it may +be confessed to have been unsupported by any direct precedent. Isabella, +the faithless wife of Edward II., had, indeed, been condemned by "the +Lords" to the forfeiture of many of the estates which she had illegally +appropriated; but it does not appear that her violation of her marriage +vows, or even her probable share or acquiescence in her husband's +murder, formed any portion of the grounds of her deprivation. And the +Parliament which attainted Catherine Howard proceeded solely on her +confession of ante-nuptial licentiousness, without giving her any +opportunity of answering or disproving the other charges which were +brought against her. Unprecedented, therefore, the course now adopted +may be admitted to have been. But it was the only practicable one. The +different minutes of the cabinet, which the Prime-minister laid before +the King, established most conclusively the correctness of their opinion +that no impeachment for high-treason could lie against her. She could +not be an accomplice in such an offence of one who, being a foreigner, +could not have committed it. It was equally impossible for the King to +sue for a divorce, as one of his subjects might have done; because it +was the established practice of Parliament not to entertain a bill of +divorce without the judgment of the Ecclesiastical Court being +previously obtained and produced. And, under the circumstances, to +obtain from the Ecclesiastical Court such a sentence as could alone lay +the foundation for a bill of divorce was clearly out of the question. + +The case was a new and extraordinary one, and, being such, could only be +dealt with in some new and extraordinary manner. And in all such cases +an appeal to Parliament seems the most, if not the only, constitutional +mode of solving the difficulty. Where the existing laws are silent or +inapplicable, the most natural resource clearly is, to go back to the +fountain of all law; that is, to the Parliament, which alone is +competent to make a new law. In one point of view the question may seem +unimportant, since we may well hope that no similar case will ever arise +to require the precedent now set to be appealed to; but not unimportant, +if it in any way or degree contributes to establish the great principle, +that the solution of all matters of moment to the state belongs to the +Parliament alone: a principle which, in its legitimate completeness, +carries with it a condemnation of many a modern association whose +object, whether avowed or disguised, is clearly to supersede where it +fails to intimidate the sole constitutional Legislature. + +The abandonment of the bill was naturally hailed as a triumph by the +Queen and her partisans; but with the excitement of the struggle against +the government the interest taken in her case died away. The next year, +when she demanded to be crowned with her husband, his refusal to admit +her claim elicited scarcely any sympathy for her under this renewed +grievance; in truth, it was one as to which precedent was unfavorable to +her demand. And the mortification at finding herself already almost +forgotten contributed to bring on an illness of which she died in less +than a year after the termination of what was called her trial; and in a +short time both she and it were forgotten. + +For the next few years the history of the kingdom is one of progressive +correction of abuses or defects. The King paid visits to Ireland and +Scotland, parts of his dominions which his father had never once +visited, and in both was received with the most exultant and apparently +sincere acclamations. And, though one great calamity fell on the +ministry in the loss of Lord Castlereagh--who, in a fit of derangement, +brought on by the excitement of overwork, unhappily laid violent hands +on himself--his death, sad as it was, could not be said to weaken or to +affect the general policy of the cabinet. Indeed, as he was replaced at +the Foreign Office by his old colleague and rival, Mr. Canning, in one +point of view the administration may be said to have been strengthened +by the change, since, as an orator, Canning had confessedly no equal in +either House of Parliament. Another change was productive of still more +practical advantage. Lord Sidmouth retired from the Home Office, and was +succeeded by Mr. Peel, previously Secretary for Ireland; and the +transfer of that statesman to an English office facilitated reforms, +some of which were as yet little anticipated even by the new Secretary +himself. The earliest of them, and one not the least important in its +bearing on the well-doing of society, the mitigation of the severity of +our Criminal Code, was, indeed, but the following up of a series of +measures in the same direction which had been commenced in the time of +the Duke of Portland's second administration, and, it must be added, in +spite of its resistance. The influence of various trades, and of the +owners of different kinds of property, pressing in turns upon our +legislators, had rendered our code the most sanguinary that had, +probably, ever existed in Christendom. Each class of proprietor regarded +only the preservation of his own property, and had no belief in the +efficacy of any kind of protection for it, except such as arose from the +fear of death; nor any doubt that he was justified in procuring the +infliction of that penalty to avert the slightest loss to himself. The +consequence was that, at the beginning of the present century, there +were above two hundred offences the perpetrators of which were liable to +capital punishment, some of a very trivial character, such as cutting +down a hop-vine in a Kentish hop-garden, robbing a rabbit-warren or a +fish-pond, personating an out-pensioner of Greenwich Hospital, or even +being found on a high-road with a blackened face, the intention to +commit a crime being inferred from the disguise, even though no overt +act had been committed. An act of Elizabeth made picking a pocket a +capital offence; another, passed as late as the reign of William III., +affixed the same penalty to shop-lifting, even when the article stolen +might not exceed the value of five shillings. And the fault of these +enactments was not confined to their unreasonable cruelty; they were as +mischievous even to those whom they were designed to protect as they +were absurd, as some owners began to perceive. In the list of capital +offences was that of stealing linen from a bleaching-ground. And a large +body of bleachers presented a petition to Parliament entreating the +repeal of the statute which made it such on the ground that, +practically, it had been found not to strike terror into the thieves, +but almost to secure them impunity from the reluctance of juries to find +a verdict which would sentence a fellow-creature to the gallows for such +an offence. + +Nor was this by any means the only instance in which the barbarity of +the law defeated its object. And its combined impolicy and inhumanity +had some years before attracted the notice of Sir Samuel Romilly, who +had been Solicitor-general in the administration of 1806, and who, +shortly after its dissolution, began to apply himself to the benevolent +object of procuring the repeal of many of the statutes in question, and +in the course of a few years did succeed in obtaining the substitution +of milder penalties for several of the less flagitious offences. He died +in 1818; but the work which he had began was continued by Sir James +Mackintosh, a man of even more conspicuous ability, and one who could +adduce his own experience in favor of the changes which he recommended +to the Parliament, since he had filled the office of Recorder of Bombay +for eight years, and had discharged his duties with a most diligent and +consistent avoidance of capital punishment, which he had never inflicted +except for murder; his lenity, previously unexampled in that land, +having been attended with a marked diminution of crime. He procured the +substitution of milder penalties in several additional cases; and at +last, in 1822, he carried a resolution engaging the House of Commons +"the next session to take into its serious consideration the means of +increasing the efficacy of the criminal law by abating its undue rigor." +And this success had the effect of inducing the new minister to take the +question into his own hands. Peel saw that it was one which, if it were +to be dealt with at all, ought to be regulated by the government itself, +and not be left to independent members, who could not settle it with +satisfactory completeness; and therefore, in 1823, he introduced a +series of bills to carry out the principle implied in Mackintosh's +resolution of the preceding year, not only simplifying the law, but +abolishing the infliction of capital punishment in above a hundred +cases. He was unable to carry out his principle as fully as he could +have desired. The prejudice in favor of still retaining death as a +punishment for forgery was too strong for even his resolution as yet to +overbear, though many private bankers supplied him with the same +arguments against it in their case which had formerly been alleged by +the bleachers. But the example which he now set, enforced as it was with +all the authority of the government, was followed in many subsequent +sessions, till at last our code, instead of the most severe, has become +the most humane in Europe, and death is now never inflicted except for +murder, or crimes intended or calculated to lead to murder. It is worth +remarking, however, that neither Romilly, Mackintosh, nor Peel ever +entertained the slightest doubt of the right of a government to inflict +capital punishment. In the last address which Mackintosh delivered to +the grand-jury at Bombay he had said: "I have no doubt of the right of +society to inflict the punishment of death on enormous crimes, wherever +an inferior punishment is not sufficient. I consider it as a mere +modification of the right of self-defence, which may as justly be +exercised in deterring from attack as in repelling it."[187] And in his +diary, when speaking of a death-warrant which he had just signed, he +says: "I never signed a paper with more perfect tranquillity of mind. I +felt agitation in pronouncing the sentence, but none in subscribing the +warrant; I had no scruple of conscience on either occasion." + +And it seems that his position is unassailable. The party whose interest +is to be kept in view by the Legislature in imposing punishments on +offences is society, the people at large, not the offender. The main +object of punishment is to deter rather than to reform; to prevent +crime, not to take vengeance on the criminal. And, if crime be more +effectually prevented by moderate than by severe punishments, society +has a right to demand, for its own security (as a matter of policy, not +of justice), that the moderate punishment shall, on that ground, be +preferred. That punishments disproportioned in their severity to the +magnitude of the offence often defeated their object was certain. Not +only had jurymen been known to confess that they had preferred violating +their oaths to doing still greater violence to their consciences, by +sending a man to the gallows for a deed which, in their opinion, did not +deserve it, but the very persons who had been injured by thefts or +forgeries were often deterred from prosecution of the guilty by the +knowledge that the forfeiture of their lives must follow their +conviction. It was almost equally certain that criminals calculated +beforehand on the chance of impunity which the known prevalence of these +feelings afforded them. Wherever the sympathy of the public does not go +along with the law, it must, to a great extent, fail; and that the +terrible frequency of sanguinary punishment had failed in all its +objects, was proved by the fact that, in spite of the numerous +executions which took place, crimes increased in a still greater +proportion than the population. Under the reformed system, now first +inaugurated on an extensive scale, crimes have become rarer, detection +and punishment more certain--a combination of results which must be the +object equally of the law-giver and the philanthropist. + +It is not quite foreign to this subject to relate that, a year or two +before, a mode of trial had been abolished which, though long disused, +by some curious oversight had still been allowed to remain on the +statute-book. In the feudal times either the prosecutor or the prisoner, +in cases of felony, had a right to claim that the cause should be +decided by "wager of battle;" but it was an ordeal which, with one +exception in the reign of George II., had not been mentioned for +centuries. In 1817, however, the relatives of a woman who had been +murdered, being dissatisfied with the acquittal of a man who had been +indicted as her murderer, sued out "an appeal of murder" against him, on +which he claimed to have the appeal decided by "wager of battle," and +threw down a glove on the floor of the court to make good his challenge. +The claim was protested against by the prosecutor; but Lord +Ellenborough, the Chief-justice, pronounced judgment that, "trial by +battle having been demanded, it was the legal and constitutional mode of +trial, and must be awarded. It was the duty of the judges to pronounce +the law as it was, and not as they might wish it to be."[188] He gave +sentence accordingly; and, had the two parties been of equal stature and +strength, the Judges of the Common Pleas might have been seen, in their +robes, presiding from sunrise till sunset over a combat to be fought, as +the law prescribed, with stout staves and leathern shields, till one +should cry "Craven," and yield up the field. Fortunately for them, the +alleged murderer was so superior in bodily strength to his adversary, +that the latter declined the contest. But the public advancement of the +claim for such a mode of decision was fatal to any subsequent exercise +of it; and, in spite of the Common Council of London, who, confiding, +perhaps, in the formidable appearance presented by some of the City +Champions on Lord Mayor's Day, petitioned Parliament to preserve it, the +next year the Attorney-general brought in a bill to abolish it, and the +judges were no longer compelled to pronounce an absurd sentence in +obedience to an obsolete law, framed at a time when personal prowess was +a virtue to cover a multitude of sins, and might was the only right +generally acknowledged. + +The foundation, too, was laid for other reforms. Lord Liverpool was more +thoroughly versed than any of his predecessors, except Pitt, in the +soundest principles of political economy; and in one of the first +speeches which he made in the new reign he expressed a decided +condemnation, not only of any regulations which were designed to favor +one trade or one interest at the expense of another, but generally of +the whole system and theory of protection; and one of his last measures +made an alteration in the manner of taxing corn imported from foreign +countries, which was greatly to the advantage of the consumer. It was +known as the "sliding-scale," the tax on imported corn varying with the +price in the market, rising when the price fell, and falling when it +rose; the design with which it was framed being to keep the price to the +consumer at all times as nearly equal as possible. At first, however, it +was vehemently denounced by the bulk of the agriculturists, who were +re-enforced on this occasion by a large party from among the Whigs, and +especially by some of those connected with Ireland. But a more suitable +period for discussing the establishment of Free-trade as the ruling +principle of our financial policy will occur hereafter. + +The introduction of the sliding-scale was almost the last act of Lord +Liverpool's ministry. At the beginning of 1827 he was preparing a fresh +measure on the same subject, the effect of which was intended to +diminish still farther the protection which the former act had given, +and which was in consequence denounced by many landholders of great +wealth and influence, led, on this subject, by the King's favorite +brother, the Duke of York.[189] But, a few days after the meeting of +Parliament, he was struck down by an attack of paralysis, from which he +never recovered. + +In his post as Prime-minister he was succeeded by Canning, not without +great reluctance on the part of the King; not, probably, so much because +he feared to find in him any desire to depart from the policy of Lord +Liverpool, except on the Catholic question (for even on matters of +foreign policy, on which Canning had always been supposed most to fix +his attention, he had adopted the line which Lord Liverpool had laid +down for the cabinet with evident sincerity),[190] as because his +Majesty had never wholly forgiven him for the attitude which he had +taken, differing on one or two points from that of his colleagues on the +Queen's case. And, as has been mentioned in a former chapter, he even, +with the object of evading the necessity of appointing him, suggested to +the Duke of Wellington the singular scheme of allowing the remaining +members of Lord Liverpool's cabinet to select their own chief,[191] +which the Duke, though coinciding with him in his dislike of Canning, of +whom he entertained a very causeless suspicion, rejected without +hesitation, as an abandonment of the royal prerogative in one of its +most essential duties or privileges. Another of his Majesty's notions, +if it had been carried out, would have been one of the strangest +violations of constitutional principle and practice which it is possible +to conceive. The Duke of York, who had for many years been +Commander-in-chief, died in January of the same year, and on his death +the King actually proposed to take that office on himself. For the +moment Lord Liverpool was able to induce him to abandon the idea, and to +confer the post on the Duke of Wellington. But it had taken such +possession of his mind that he recurred to it again when, on Canning +becoming Prime-minister, the Duke resigned the office; and he pressed it +on the Cabinet with singular pertinacity till, on Canning's death, the +Duke was prevailed on to resume the command. It is evident that no +arrangement could possibly be more inconsistent with every principle of +the constitution. The very foundation of parliamentary government is, +that every officer of every department is responsible to Parliament for +the proper discharge of his duties. But the investiture of the sovereign +with ministerial office of any kind must involve either the entire +withdrawal of that department from parliamentary control, or the +exposure of the sovereign to constant criticism, which, however +essential to the efficiency of the department, and consequently to the +public service, would be wholly inconsistent with the respect due to the +crown. The first alternative it is certain that no Parliament would +endure for a moment; the second, by impairing the dignity of the +monarch, could scarcely fail in some degree to threaten the stability of +the monarchy itself. + +Canning's ministry was too brief to give time for any transaction of +internal importance. That of Lord Goderich, who succeeded him, though +longer by the almanac, was practically briefer still, since it never met +Parliament at all, but was formed and fell to pieces between the +prorogation and the next meeting of the Houses. But that which followed, +under the presidency of the Duke of Wellington, though after a few +months its composition became entirely Tory, is memorable for the first +great departure from those maxims of the constitution which had been +reckoned among its most essential principles ever since the Revolution. +Of the measures which bear that character, one was carried against the +resistance of the ministry, the other by the ministers themselves. And +it may at first sight appear singular that the larger measure of the two +was proposed by the Duke after those members of his cabinet who had +originally been supposed to give it something of a Liberal complexion +had quitted it. The Reform Bill of 1832--to which we shall come in the +next chapter--has been often called a peaceful revolution. The +Toleration Acts, as we may call the bills of 1828 and 1829, are scarcely +less deserving of that character. + +The constitution, as it had existed for the last hundred and forty +years, had been not only a Protestant but a Church of England +constitution. Not only all Roman Catholics, but all members of +Protestant Non-conforming sects, all who refused to sign a declaration +against the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and also to take the +Sacrament according to the rites of the one Established Church, were +disqualified for any appointment of trust. That the object with which +the Test Act had been framed and supported was rather political than +religious is notorious; indeed, it was supported by the Protestant +Dissenters, though they themselves were to suffer by its operation, so +greatly at that time did the dread of Popery and the French King +overpower every other consideration.[192] On the Roman Catholics, after +the reign of James II. had increased that apprehension, the restrictions +were tightened. But those which inflicted disabilities on the Protestant +Non-conformists had been gradually relaxed. The repeal of two, the Five +Mile and the Conventicle Acts, had, as we have seen in the last chapter, +been recent measures of Lord Liverpool. But the Test Act still remained, +though it had long been practically a dead letter. The Union with +Scotland, where the majority of the population was Presbyterian, had +rendered it almost impossible to maintain the exclusion of Englishmen +resembling the Scotch in their religious tenets from preferments, and +even from seats in the House of Commons, to which Scotchmen were +admissible. And though one Prime-minister (Stanhope) failed in his +attempt to induce Parliament to repeal the Test Act, and his successor +(Walpole) refused his countenance to any repetition of the proposal, +even he did not reject such a compromise as was devised to evade it; and +in the first year of George II.'s reign (by which time it was notorious +that many Protestant Non-conformists had obtained seats in municipal +corporations, and even in the House of Commons, who yet had never +qualified themselves by compliance with the act of 1673) a bill of +indemnity was introduced by the minister, with at least the tacit +consent of the English bishops, to protect all such persons from the +penalties which they had incurred. And the bill, which was only annual +in its operation, was renewed almost every year, till, in respect of all +such places or dignities (if a seat in the House of Commons can be +described by either of those names), no one thought of inquiring whether +a man, so long as he were a Protestant, adhered to the Established +Church or not; members of the House of Commons even openly avowing their +nonconformity, and at times founding arguments on the fact. + +The practical nullification of the Test Act by these periodical bills of +indemnity had been for some time used by two opposite parties--both that +which regarded the maintenance of the exclusive connection of the +constitution with the Church of England as of vital importance to both +Church and constitution, and that which was opposed to all restrictions +or disqualiflcations on religious grounds--as an argument in their +favor. The one contended that there could be no sufficient reason for +repealing a law from which no one suffered; the other, that it was a +needless provocation of ill-feeling to retain a law which no one ever +dreamed of enforcing. Hitherto the latter had been the weaker party. One +or two motions for the repeal of the Test Act, which had been made in +former years,[193] had been defeated without attracting any great +notice; but in the spring of 1828 Lord John Russel, then a +comparatively young member, but rapidly rising into influence with his +party, carried a motion in the House of Commons for leave to bring in a +bill to repeal the act, so far as it concerned the Protestant +Non-conformists, by a very decisive majority,[194] in spite of all the +efforts of Peel and his colleagues. + +The ministry was placed in a difficult position by his success, since +the usual practice for a cabinet defeated on a question of principle was +to resign; and it is probable that they would not have departed from +that rule now, had not this defeat occurred so early in their official +life. But on this occasion it seemed to them that other questions had to +be considered besides the constitutional doctrine of submission on the +part of a ministry to the judgment of the Parliament.[195] Theirs was +now the fourth administration that had held office within twelve months; +and their resignation, which would compel the construction of a fifth, +could hardly fail not only to embarrass the sovereign, but to shake +public confidence in government generally. It was also certain that they +could rely on a division in the House of Lords being favorable to them, +if they chose to appeal from one House to the other. Under these +circumstances, they had to consider what their line of conduct should +be, and there never were two ministers better suited to deal with an +embarrassment of that kind than the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel. The +Duke's doctrine of government was that "the country was never governed +in practice according to the extreme principles of any party +whatever;"[196] while Peel's disposition at all times inclined him to +compromise. He was quite aware that on this and similar questions public +feeling had undergone great alteration since the beginning of the +century. There was a large and increasing party, numbering in its ranks +many men of deep religious feeling, and many firm supporters of the +principle of an Established Church, being also sincere believers in the +pre-eminent excellence of the Church of England, who had a conscientious +repugnance to the employment of the most solemn ordinance of a religion +as a mere political test of a person's qualifications for the discharge +of civil duties. In the opinion of the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Lloyd), +this was the feeling of "a very large majority of the Church itself," +and of the University.[197] Peel, therefore, came to the conclusion--to +which he had no difficulty in bringing his colleague, the +Prime-minister--that "it might be more for the real interests of the +Church and of religion to consent to an alteration in the law" than to +trust to the result of the debate in the House of Lords to maintain the +existing state of things. Accordingly, after several conferences with +the most influential members of the Episcopal Bench, he framed a +declaration to be substituted for the Sacramental test, binding all who +should be required to subscribe it--a description which included all who +should be appointed to a civil or corporate office--never to exert any +power or influence which they might thus acquire to subvert, or to +endeavor to subvert, the Protestant Church of England, Scotland, or +Ireland, as by law established. The declaration was amended in the House +of Lords by the addition of the statement, that this declaration was +subscribed "on the true faith of a Christian," introduced at the +instigation of Lord Eldon, who had not held the Great Seal since the +dissolution of Lord Liverpool's administration, but who was still looked +up to by a numerous party as the foremost champion of sound +Protestantism in either House. + +Not that the addition of these words at all diminished the +dissatisfaction with which the great lawyer regarded the bill. On the +contrary, he believed it to be not only a weapon wilfully put into the +hands of the enemies of the Established Church, but a violation of the +constitution, of which, as he regarded it "the existing securities were +a part." He pointed out that "the King himself was obliged to take the +sacrament at his coronation;" and he argued from this and other grounds +that "the Church of England, combined with the state, formed together +the constitution of Great Britain; and that the acts now to be repealed +were necessary to the preservation of that constitution." + +With every respect for that great lawyer, his argument on this point +does not appear sustainable. For the bill in question did not sweep away +securities for the Established Church, but merely substituted, for one +which long disuse and indemnity had rendered wholly inoperative, a fresh +security, which, as it would be steadily put in force, might fairly be +expected to prove far more efficacious. And it can hardly be contended +that it was not within the province of the Legislature to modify an +existing law in this spirit and with this object, however important +might be the purpose for which that law had originally been framed. Nay, +it might fairly be argued that the more important that object was, the +more were they who strengthened the means of attaining that object +entitled to be regarded as faithful servants and supporters of the +principle of the constitution. + +The measure, however, relieved the Protestant Dissenters alone. Not only +did Lord Eldon's amendment preserve the Christian character of the +Legislature, but the requirement to sign the declaration against +Transubstantiation, which was unrepealed, left the Roman Catholics still +under the same disqualifications as before. But the days of those +disqualifications were manifestly numbered. Indeed, many of those who +had followed the ministers in their original resistance to the repeal of +the Test Act had been avowedly influenced by the conviction that it +could not fail to draw after it the removal of the disabilities +affecting the Roman Catholics. As has been said before, the disabilities +in question had originally been imposed on the Roman Catholics on +political rather than on religious grounds. And the political reasons +for them had been greatly weakened, if not wholly swept away, by the +extinction of the Stuart line of princes. Their retention or removal +had, therefore, now become almost wholly a religious question; and the +late bill had clearly established as a principle that, though the state +had a right to require of members of other religious sects that they +should not abuse the power which might arise from any positions or +employments to which they might be admitted, to the subversion or injury +of the Established Church of England, yet, when security for their +innocuousness in this respect was provided, it was not justified in +inquiring into the details of their faith. And if this were to be the +rule of government for the future, the conclusion was irresistible that +a similar security was all that the state was justified in demanding +from Roman Catholics, and that it could have no warrant for +investigating their opinion on Transubstantiation, or any other purely +theological tenet. There could be no doubt that the feelings of the +public had been gradually and steadily coming round to this view of the +question. The last House of Commons had not only passed a bill to remove +Roman Catholic disabilities (which was afterward thrown out in the House +of Lords), but had also passed, by a still larger majority, a +resolution, moved by Lord Francis Leveson Gower (who was now the +Secretary for Ireland), in favor of endowing the Roman Catholic priests +in Ireland. And at the late general election the opinions of the +candidates on what was commonly called Catholic Emancipation had been +the great cardinal question with a great number, probably a majority, of +the constituencies. + +It may be remarked that it was not the Test Act which excluded Roman +Catholics from Parliament, but a bill which, fifteen years later, had +been passed (probably under the influence of Lord Shaftesbury) at the +time when the whole kingdom was excited by the daily expanding +revelations of the Popish Plot.[198] And this bill had a loop-hole which +was never discovered till now but the discovery of which totally changed +the whole aspect of the question. Even before the bill repealing the +Test Act had passed through all its stages, Sir Francis Burdett had +again induced the House of Commons to pass a resolution condemning the +continuance of the Roman Catholic disabilities; to which, however, the +peers, by a far larger majority, refused their concurrence.[199] But, +within a month of this division, the aspect of the whole question was +changed by the shrewdness of an Irish barrister, who had discovered the +loop-hole or flaw in the bill of 1678 already alluded to, and by the +energy and promptitude with which he availed himself of his discovery. +Mr. O'Connell had a professional reputation scarcely surpassed by any +member of the Irish Bar. He was also a man of ancient family in the +county of Kerry. And, being a Roman Catholic, he had for several years +been the spokesman of his brother Roman Catholics on most public +occasions. He now, on examination of the bill of 1678, perceived that, +though it forbade any Roman Catholic from taking a seat in either House +of Parliament, it contained no prohibition to prevent any constituency +from electing him its representative. And when, on the occasion of some +changes which were made in the cabinet, the representation of the County +Clare was vacated by its member, Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, accepting the +office of President of the Board of Trade, O'Connell instantly offered +himself as a candidate in opposition to the new minister, who, of +course, sought re-election. + +Mr. Fitzgerald was a man who had always supported the demands of the +Roman Catholics; he was also personally popular, and had the undivided +support of nearly all the gentlemen and principal land-owners of the +county, in which he himself had large property. But O'Connell's cause +was taken up by the entire Roman Catholic priesthood; addresses in his +favor were read at the altars of the different churches; and, after five +days' polling, Mr. Fitzgerald withdrew from the contest. The Sheriff, in +great perplexity, made a special return, reporting that "Mr. Fitzgerald +was proposed, being a Protestant, as a fit person to represent the +county in Parliament; that Mr. O'Connell, a Roman Catholic, was also +proposed; that he, Mr. O'Connell, had declared before the Sheriff that +he was a Roman Catholic, and intended to continue a Roman Catholic; and +that a protest had been made by several electors against his return." + +It was accepted as a return of O'Connell, who, however, made no attempt +to take his seat, though when he first stood he had assured the electors +that there was no law to prevent him from doing so; but the importance +of his success was not to be measured by his actual presence or absence +in the House of Commons for the remainder of a session. It had made it +absolutely impossible to continue the maintenance of the disabilities; +what one Irish constituency had done, other Irish constituencies might +be depended on to do.[200] And it was quite certain that, as opportunity +offered, almost every constituency in Munster and Connaught, and many in +Leinster, would follow the example of Clare, and return Roman Catholic +representatives; while to retain a law which prevented forty or fifty +men duly elected by Irish constituencies from taking their seats must +have appeared impossible to all but a few, whom respect for the +undoubted sincerity of their attachment to their own religion and to the +constitution, as they understood it, is the only consideration which can +save them from being regarded as dangerous fanatics. At all events, the +ministers were not among them. And the Duke of Wellington, though he had +previously hoped, by postponing the farther consideration of the +question for a year or two, to gain time for a calmer examination of it +when the existing excitement had cooled down,[201] at once admitted the +conviction that the result of the Clare election had rendered farther +delay impossible. In his view, and that of those of his colleagues whose +judgment he estimated most highly, the Irish constituencies and their +probable action at future elections were not the only parties whose +opinions or feelings must be regarded by a responsible statesman; but to +them must be added the constituencies of the larger island also, since, +while, to quote the language of Mr. Peel, "the general election of 1826 +had taken place under circumstances especially calculated to call forth +the manifestation of Protestant feeling throughout the country," they +had returned a majority of members in favor of concession, as was proved +by the recent division on Sir F. Burdett's motion. Moreover, apart from +the merits or demerits of concession, taken by itself, there was a +manifest danger that the keeping up of the excitement on the subject by +a continued adherence to the policy of restriction might, especially +among such a people as the Irish, so impulsive, and, in the lower +classes, so absolutely under the dominion of the priests, kindle an +excitement on other subjects also, still more difficult to deal with. It +was even already certain that the Roman Catholic priests were +endeavoring to tamper with the loyalty of the soldiers of their +persuasion. Nor was it clerical influence alone that the government had +to dread. A year or two before a Catholic Association had been formed, +which included among its members all the wealthiest and ablest of the +Roman Catholic laymen, noblemen, squires, and barristers. Its +organization had been so skilfully conducted, and all its measures had +been so carefully kept within the requirements of the law, that the +crown lawyers, on being consulted, pronounced it impossible to interfere +with it; and, by what may be called a peaceful agitation, it had +attained such extraordinary power over the minds of the bulk of the +Roman Catholics, that the Lord-lieutenant reported that "he was quite +certain that they could lead on the people to open rebellion at a +moment's notice, and that their organization was such that, in the hands +of desperate and intelligent leaders, they would be extremely +formidable[202]." + +Under all these circumstances, the Duke had no hesitation in deciding +that it had become absolutely necessary to concede the demands of the +Roman Catholics and their supporters for a removal of their political +disabilities. And it was equally obvious that, the more promptly the +concession was made, the more gracious it would seem, and the greater +was the probability of its having the conciliatory and tranquillizing +effect the hope of which made it so desirable. He was not a man to lose +time when he had once made up his mind. It was already too late in the +session for anything to be done in 1828; but the Parliament had scarcely +been prorogued before he put his views on the subject before the King, +and began, in concert with the Home-secretary, to frame a bill such as +he hoped might settle the long-agitated question, without doing more +violence than was necessary to the feelings of those whose opposition or +reluctance he was aware he should have to encounter: among whom was the +King himself, who, though thirty years before he had, with an +ostentation rather unbecoming, considering his position, put himself +forward as an advocate of Emancipation, had subsequently changed his +opinion, and had recently taken more than one occasion to declare that +he had never doubted that, as the head and protector of the Protestant +religion, he was bound to refuse his assent to any relaxation of the +existing law.[203] The Duke, however, was too well acquainted with his +royal master's character to apprehend any real firmness of resistance +from him; but he knew that a great majority of the clergy, and no small +portion of the country gentlemen, were conscientiously and immovably +fixed in opposition to any concession at all, some refusing to regard +the question in any but a purely religious light, and objecting to +associate in the task of legislation for those whom they regarded as +adherents of an idolatrous superstition; while those who mingled +political reasoning with that founded on theology dwelt also on the +danger to be apprehended to the state, if political power were given to +those whose allegiance to the King was divided with another allegiance +which they acknowledged to a foreign prelate. And he had presently an +unmistakable proof afforded him how great was the strength of this party +in the country. Peel was one of the representatives of the University of +Oxford; and, as from his earliest enjoyment of a seat in Parliament he +had been a prominent opponent of the Roman Catholic claims, he +considered that it was to that maintenance of a policy identified in +their eyes with that Protestant ascendency which his supporters took to +be both the chief bulwark and one of the most essential parts of the +constitution that he owed his position as their member. With a +conscientiousness which was rather overstrained, and not quite +consistent with the legitimate position of a member of the House of +Commons as a representative, and not a delegate, he now conceived that +his change of view on the subject made it proper for him to give his +constituents an opportunity of making choice of some one else who should +more faithfully represent them. He accordingly resigned his seat, +offering himself at the same time for re-election. But he was defeated +by a very large majority, though his competitor was one who could not +possibly be put on a level with him either for university distinction or +for parliamentary eminence. + +Not the less, however, for all their difficulties and discouragements, +did the ministers proceed in the course on which they had resolved. They +inserted in the speech with which the King opened the session of 1829 a +recommendation to the Houses "to take into consideration the whole +condition of Ireland, and to review the laws which imposed civil +disabilities on his Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects." And with as +little delay as possible they introduced a bill to remove those +disabilities. But there was another measure which they felt it to be +indispensable should precede it. A previous sentence of the royal speech +had described the Catholic Association as one "dangerous to the public +peace, and inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution, keeping +alive discord and ill-will among his Majesty's subjects, and one which +must, if permitted to continue, effectually obstruct every effort +permanently to improve the condition of Ireland." And the ministers +naturally regarded it as their first duty to suppress a body which could +deserve to be so described. They felt, too, that the large measure of +concession and conciliation which they were about to announce would lose +half its grace, and more than half its effect, if it could possibly be +represented as a submission to an agitation and intimidation which they +had not the power nor the courage to resist. They determined, therefore, +to render such an imputation impossible, by previously suppressing the +Association. It was evident that it could not be extinguished by any +means short of an act of Parliament. And the course pursued, with the +discussions which took place respecting it, show in a very clear and +instructive manner the view taken by statesmen of the difference between +what is loyal or illegal, constitutional or unconstitutional; their +apprehension that conduct may be entirely legal, that is to say, within +the letter of the law, but at the same time perfectly unconstitutional, +outside of and adverse to the whole spirit of the constitution. The +royal speech had not ventured to describe the Association as illegal. +The Duke of Wellington expressly admitted that "in the original +institution and formation of the society there was nothing strictly +illegal."[204] And its founder and chief, Mr. O'Connell, had been at all +times careful to inculcate on his followers the necessity of avoiding +any violation of the law. But the speech had also declared the +association to be "inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution." +And its acts, as the Duke proceeded to describe them, certainly bore out +that declaration. "Those acts consisted principally in levying a tax +upon certain of his Majesty's subjects called Catholic rent, and this by +means and acts of extreme violence; by appointing persons to collect +these rents; and farther by adopting measures to organize the Catholic +population; by appointing persons to superintend that organization; and +by assuming to themselves the government of the country; and, still +more, affecting to assume it. Besides, they expended this rent in a +manner contrary to, and utterly inconsistent with, all law and order and +the constitution of the country." No member of either House denied the +accuracy of this description of the Association's proceedings. And if it +were correct, it was incontrovertible that the denunciation of it as an +utterly unconstitutional body was not too strong. Indeed, the fact of +its "levying a tax" upon a portion of the King's subjects (to say +nothing of the intimidation, amounting to compulsion, by which, as was +notorious, it was in many instances exacted) was the assumption of one +of the most important functions of the Imperial Parliament; it was the +erection of an _imperium in imperio_, which no statesmen intrusted with +the government of a country can be justified in tolerating. And this was +felt by the Opposition as well as by the ministers; by the Whigs as +fully as by the Tories. The most eloquent of the Whig party, Mr. +Stanley, was as decided as Mr. Peel himself in affirming that the +existence of the Association was "inconsistent with the spirit of the +constitution," and that it was "dangerous that the people of a country +should look up to any public body distinct from the government, opposed +to the government, and monopolizing their attachment and +obedience."[205] + +It was, therefore, with the almost unanimous approval of both parties +that the bill framed for the suppression of the Association was +received. The framing of such a bill was not unattended by difficulties, +as Peel acknowledged,[206] since "no one wished to declare that every +political meeting was illegal;" while at the same time it was necessary +to guard against "having its enactments evaded, since a more dangerous +precedent than the successful evasion of acts of the Legislature could +scarcely be conceived." But the measure, as it was proposed, skilfully +steered clear of these difficulties. It met them by intrusting "the +enforcement of the law to be enacted to one person alone." The bill +proposed "to give to the Lord-lieutenant, and to him alone, the power of +suppressing any association or meeting which he might think dangerous to +the public peace, or inconsistent with the due administration of the +law; together with power to interdict the assembly of any meeting of +which previous notice should have been given, and which he should think +likely to endanger the public peace, or to prove inconsistent with the +due administration of the law." And farther, "to interdict any meeting +or association which might be interdicted from assembling, or which +might be suppressed under this act, from receiving and placing at their +control any moneys by the name of rent, or any other name." But the act +was not to be one of perpetual duration. It could not be concealed that +such a prohibition or limitation of the general right of public meeting +and public discussion was a suspension of a part of the constitution; +and therefore the ministers were content to limit its operation "to one +year and the end of the then next session of Parliament," feeling +"satisfied that there would be no objection to continue it, if there +should be any necessity for its continuance." And this limitation was a +substantial mitigation of its severity. It made the bill, as Mr. Stanley +correctly described it, "not a permanent infringement on the +constitution, but a temporary deviation from it, giving those powers +which were necessary at the moment," but not maintaining them an hour +longer than they were necessary. + +And this seems to be the course most in accordance with the spirit of +the constitution, with former practice, with common-sense. Deeds which +violate the letter of the law can be dealt with by the law. But actions +or courses of action which, even if they may be thought to overstep the +law, transgress it so narrowly as to elude conviction, can only be +reached by enactments which also go in some degree beyond the ordinary +law; and, so going beyond it, are to that extent encroachments on the +ordinary privileges and rights of the subject, and suspensions of the +constitution. But the very term "suspension" shows that the power +conferred is but temporary, otherwise it would be synonymous with +abrogation. And all parties may wisely agree, as they did in this +instance, to a temporary suspension of the people's rights, though there +would be none to whom their permanent abrogation would not be +intolerable. + +The bill, then, for the suppression of the Association passed with +universal approval, and it may be regarded as furnishing a model for +dealing with similar associations, if ever they should arise. And as +soon as it was passed Mr. Peel introduced the greater measure, that for +the repeal of the disabilities. In drawing the necessary bill the +ministers had had two questions of special importance to consider: +firstly, whether it should be unlimited concession which should be +granted, such as would throw open to the Roman Catholics every kind of +civil office; and, secondly, whether it should be accompanied by any +other measure, which might render it more palatable to its adversaries, +as diminishing a portion at least of the dangers which those who +regarded the question in a purely political light most apprehended. On +the first point it was determined that, with the exception of three +civil offices, those of the Lord Chancellors of England and Ireland and +the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland,[207] and some of a purely ecclesiastical +character, such as the Judge of the Court of Arches, every kind of +preferment should be opened to the Roman Catholics.[208] The declaration +against Transubstantiation and the oath of supremacy, certain +expressions in which were the obstacles which had hitherto kept the +Roman Catholics out of office and out of Parliament, were to be +repealed, and another to be substituted for them which should merely +bind him who took it to defend the King, to maintain the Protestant +succession, and to declare that "it was not an article of his faith, and +that he renounced, rejected, and abjured the opinion, that princes +excommunicated or deposed by the Pope might be deposed and murdered; and +that he disclaimed, disavowed, and solemnly abjured any intention to +subvert the present Church Establishment as settled by law within this +realm, and that he would never exercise any privilege to which he was or +might become entitled to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion or +Protestant government in this kingdom."[209] + +The second question was, it will probably be confessed, even more +important. Pitt, who had always contemplated, and had encouraged the +Irish Roman Catholics to contemplate, the abolition of their political +disabilities as an indispensable appendage to, or, it may be said, part +of the Union, had designed, farther, not to confine his benefits to the +laymen, but to endow the Roman Catholic clergy with adequate stipends, a +proposal which was received with the greatest thankfulness, not only by +the Irish prelates and clergy themselves, but also by the heads of their +Church at Rome, who were willing, in return, to give the crown a veto on +all the ecclesiastical appointments of their Church in the two +islands.[210] The justice of granting such an endowment could hardly be +contested. The Reformation in Ireland, if what had taken place there +could be called a reformation at all, had been wholly different from the +movement which had almost extinguished Popery in England. The great +majority of the Irish people had never ceased to adhere to the Romish +forms, and the Reformation there had been simply a transfer of the +property of the Romish Church to the Church of England, unaccompanied by +any corresponding change of belief in the people, who had an undeniable +right to claim that the state, while making this transfer, should not +deprive of all provision the clergy to whose ministrations they still +clung with a zeal and steadiness augmented rather than diminished by the +discouragements under which they adhered to them. + +The policy of granting such endowment was equally conspicuous. No +measure could so bind the clergy to the government; and no such security +for the loyalty and peaceful, orderly behavior of the poorer classes +could be provided, as might be expected from the attachment to the +government of those who had over them an influence so powerful in its +character and so unbounded in its strength as their priests. And the +Duke of Wellington, who had at one time been himself the Irish +Secretary, and, as an intimate friend of Lord Castlereagh, who held that +office at the time of the Union, had a perfect knowledge of what had +been intended at that time--and who was, of course, aware of the very +decided favor which the House of Commons had so lately shown to the +project--proposed to follow out Pitt's plan in that particular, and to +connect a provision[211] for the Roman Catholic clergy with the removal +of their political disabilities from the laymen. Unluckily, Peel, who, +throughout the whole transaction, was, of all the cabinet, the +counsellor on whose judgment he most relied, took a different view of +the expediency of making such a provision, having, indeed, "no objection +to it in point of principle." But he saw many practical difficulties, +which he pressed on the Duke with great earnestness. He argued that for +the government "to apply a sum of money to the payment of the ministers +of the Church of Rome in Ireland, granting a license for the performance +of their spiritual functions, would be a virtual and complete +supersession, if not repeal, of the laws which prohibit intercourse with +Rome;" and asked, "Could the state affect to be ignorant that the bishop +whom it paid derived his right to be a bishop from the See of Rome?" +Another difficulty he found in the apprehension that "the admission of +the right of the Roman Catholic clergy to an endowment might produce +similar claims on the part of the Dissenters in England, who contribute +in like manner to the support of their own religion and of the +established religion also." He suggested, farther, that, if the Roman +Catholic priest were allowed, in addition to his stipend, "to receive +dues, Easter offerings, etc., from his parishioners, his condition would +then be better than that of the ministers of the Established Church in +many of the parishes in Ireland." And, finally, he urged the practical +objection, that the endowment would greatly strengthen the opposition to +the whole measure, by the reluctance which, "on purely religious +grounds," many would feel to the endowment of the Roman Catholic faith, +who would yet be inclined to acquiesce in the removal of the +disabilities, "on grounds rather political than religious." He was "not +insensible to the importance of establishing some bond of connection +between the Roman Catholic clergy and the state;" but he believed that +the omission of a provision for their endowment "was important to the +ultimate success of the government in proposing the measure before +them." + +It is not probable that the Duke was greatly influenced by the first, or +what may be called the constitutional, objection--that any concert with +the Papal Court with respect to the appointments or endowments of its +clergy would be a violation of the act which prohibited any intercourse +with Rome. The removal of the disabilities required the repeal of one +act of Parliament; and, if the holding communications with Rome on the +subject of clerical appointments should be so construed as to require +the repeal of another, it would hardly seem that there could be any +greater violation of or departure from the principles of the +constitution in repealing two acts than in repealing one. As to the +second of Peel's objections, the English Dissenters could not possibly +be said to stand on the same ground as the Irish Roman Catholics, since +their ministers had certainly never been deprived by any act of the +state of any provision which they had previously enjoyed; but their +position as unendowed ministers was clearly one of their own making. The +possible inferiority in point of emolument of some of the Protestant +cures in Ireland to that which might be enjoyed by some of the Roman +Catholic clergy could hardly be regarded as the foundation of any +argument at all, since no law had ever undertaken, or ever could +undertake, to give at all times and under all circumstances equal +remuneration to equal labors. But the consideration last suggested was +exactly the one to influence such a mind as that of the Duke of +Wellington, generally contented to deal with a present difficulty. He +was determined to carry Emancipation, because he saw that the Clare +election had made it impossible to withhold or even to delay it; and, +being so determined, he was desirous to avoid encumbering it with any +addition which might increase the opposition to it. At the same time he +was far from being sanguine of its effect, "with whatever guards or +securities it might be accompanied, to pacify the country or to avert +rebellion,"[212] which, in his apprehension, was undoubtedly impending; +and, under the influence of these combined feelings, he eventually +withdrew that clause from the bill. It was accompanied by another bill, +disfranchising the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland. They were a +class of voters sunk in the deepest poverty, and such as certainly could +not well be supposed capable of forming, much less of exercising, an +independent judgment on political matters. Yet this bill is remarkable +as having been the only enactment passed since the Revolution to narrow +the franchise. It had no opposition to anticipate from English or Scotch +members, and was accepted by the Irish members as the price of +Emancipation. + +No measure that had ever been framed since the Revolution had caused +such excitement in the country; but the preponderance of feeling in its +favor was equally marked in both Houses of Parliament. In the House of +Commons 320 supported it, while only 142 could be marshalled against it. +In the House of Lords 213 divided for it against 109. And in April it +received the royal assent. + +The general policy of removing the disabilities it is not necessary to +discuss here. It is quite clear that the Clare election had rendered it +impossible to maintain them. And if some of those who judge of measures +solely by their effects still denounce this act, as one which has failed +in its object of tranquillizing Ireland, many of those who admit the +failure ascribe it to the omission to accompany it by one securing a +state endowment for the Roman Catholic clergy, pronouncing it, without +that appendage, a half measure, such as rarely succeeds, and never +deserves success. However that may be, it is certain that the measure, +coupled with the repeal of the Test Act of the previous year, was one +which made a great and permanent change in the practical working of the +constitution of the kingdom, as it had been interpreted for the last one +hundred and fifty years. Of that constitution one of the leading +features, ever since the Restoration, had been understood to be the +establishment and maintenance of the political as well as the +ecclesiastical ascendency of the Church of England. On that ascendency +the repeal of the Test Act in 1828 had made the first, and that a great, +inroad, and the present statute entirely abolished it as a principle of +government. So far as political privileges went, every Christian sect +was now placed on a footing of complete equality. But so to place them +may fairly be regarded as having been required not only by justice and +expediency, but by reasons drawn from the history of the nation and from +the circumstances under which these disabilities had been imposed. +Before the Rebellion no one was excluded from the English Parliament on +account of his religion, whether he was a Roman Catholic, a +Presbyterian, or a member of any other of the various sects which were +gradually arising in the country. It was not till after the Restoration +that a recollection of the crimes of the Puritans, when they had got the +upper-hand, and the fear of machinations and intrigues, incompatible +with the freedom and independence of the people, which were imputed to +the Roman Catholics, gave birth to the statutes depriving both +Protestant and Roman Catholic Non-conformists of all legislative and +political power. The restrictions thus imposed on the Presbyterians and +other Protestant sects had, as we have seen, been gradually relaxed by a +periodical act of indemnity. Indeed, after the Union with Scotland, it +was impossible with any show of consistency to maintain them, since, as +it has been already pointed out, after Presbyterianism had been +recognized as the established religion of Scotland, it would have seemed +strangely unreasonable to regard it as a disqualification on the +southern side of the Border. But, as long as the Stuart princes were +from time to time disquieting the government by their open invasions or +secret intrigues, no such relaxation could with safety be granted to the +Roman Catholics, since it could hardly be expected that they would +forbear to employ any power which they might acquire for the service of +a prince of their own religion. That danger, however, which ever since +1745 had been a very shadowy one, had wholly passed away with the life +of the last Stuart lay prince, Charles Edward; and his death left the +rulers of the kingdom and advisers of the sovereign free to take a +different and larger view of their duty to the nation as a whole. + +It was notorious that the number of Non-conformists was large. In the +middle of the last century it had received a considerable accession +through the institution of the new sect of Wesleyan Methodists; which, +through the supineness of the clergy of the Established Church in that +generation, had gradually increased, till it was estimated that the +various Dissenting sects in England equalled at least half the number of +the members of the Established Church. In Wales they were believed to +form the majority. In Scotland three-fourths of the people were +Presbyterians; and in Ireland the Roman Catholics outnumbered the +Protestants in nearly the same proportion. Taking England, Wales, +Scotland, and Ireland together, a calculation which reckoned the +different sects of Protestant and Roman Catholic Non-conformists united +at half the entire population would probably not have erred very widely +from the truth. + +It must have been the aim of every statesman deserving of the name to +weld these different religious parties into one harmonious whole, as far +as their civil position went. And measures which had that tendency could +not be foreign to the constitution, properly understood. A constitution +which confines its benefits to one-half of a nation hardly merits the +title of a constitution at all. For every constitution ought to extend +its protection and its privileges equally to every portion of the +people, unless there be some peculiarity in the principles or habits of +any one portion which makes its participation in them dangerous to the +rest. It had undoubtedly been the doctrine of Pitt, and of the greater +part of those who since his time had held the reins of government, that +if any portion of the King's subjects did cherish a temper dangerous to +the rest, it was because they were debarred from privileges to which +they conceived themselves to have a just right, and that their +discontent and turbulence were the fruit of the restrictions imposed on +them. In proposing to remove such a grievance Pitt certainly conceived +himself to be acting in accordance with the strictest principles of the +constitution, and not so much innovating upon it as restoring it to its +original comprehensiveness. And so of the measure, as it was now +carried, it will apparently be correct to say that, though it did make +an important change in the practical working of the constitution, it +made it only by reverting to the fundamental principles of civil and +religious liberty, to which every subject had a right; which had only +been temporarily restrained under the apprehension of danger to the +state, and which the cessation of that apprehension made it a duty to +re-establish in all their fulness. + +But it is by no means clear that in the conduct of the measure the +constitution was not violated in one very important point, the proper +relation subsisting between a constituency and its representative, by +Mr. Peel's resignation of his seat for the University of Oxford. That he +was sensible that the act stood in need of explanation is proved by the +careful statement of the motives and considerations that determined him +to it, which he drew up twenty years afterward. They were of a twofold +character. To quote his own words: "When I resolved to advise, and to +promote to the utmost of my power, the settlement of that question, I +resolved at the same time to relinquish, not only my official +station,[213] but the representation of the University of Oxford. I +thought that such decisive proofs that I could have no object, political +or personal, in taking a course different from that which I had +previously taken, would add to my influence and authority, so far, at +least, as the adjustment of the particular question at issue was +concerned." "I cannot deny that in vacating my seat I was acting upon +the impulse of private feelings, rather than upon a dispassionate +consideration of the constitutional relations between a representative +and his constituents. I will not seek to defend the resolution to which +I came by arguments drawn from the peculiar character of the academic +body, or from the special nature of the trust confided to its members; +still less will I contend that my example ought to be followed by others +to whom may be offered the same painful alternative of disregarding the +dictates of their own consciences, or of acting in opposition to the +opinions and disappointing the expectations of their constituents. I +will say no more than that my position was a very peculiar one, that I +had many painful sacrifices to make, and that it would have been a great +aggravation of them, if it could have said with truth that I was +exercising an authority derived from the confidence of the University to +promote measures injurious, in her deliberate judgment, either to her +own interests or to those of the Church." + +No one would willingly censure too severely an act dictated by a sense +of honor, even if somewhat overstrained and too scrupulously delicate; +but when Mr. Peel speaks of "defending" or not defending his deed, he +clearly admits it to be one open to impeachment. And when he forbears to +"contend that his example ought to be followed," he seems practically to +confess a consciousness that any defence against such impeachment must +fail; while the last sentence quoted above involves an assertion that a +constituency (in this instance one of the two most important +constituencies in the kingdom) could be justified in regarding a measure +required by the safety, or at least by the welfare, of the state, as +injurious to its own interests; and so far admits a possible severance +between the interests of a particular class or body and those of the +whole community, which can have no real existence. That, however, is not +the point to be investigated here. The charge, as it seems, to which Mr. +Peel's deed lays him open is, that by it he lowered the position and +character of a member of Parliament from those of a representative to +those of a delegate. It was an adoption of the principle laid down for +his own guidance by a colleague of Mr. Burke above fifty years before, +and indignantly repudiated by that great political philosopher, as +proceeding from an entire misapprehension of the rights of a +constituency and of a member[214] of Parliament. He told the electors of +Bristol that "when they had chosen their member, he was not a member of +Bristol, but a member of Parliament; and that if the local constituent +should have an interest, or should form an opinion, evidently opposite +to the real good of the rest of the community, the member for that place +ought to be as far as any other from any endeavor to give it effect;" +that a representative "owes to his constituents, not his industry only, +but his judgment, and betrays instead of serving them, if he sacrifices +it to their opinion." And in so saying he carried with him the +concurrence and approval of all his contemporaries whose sentiments on +such a question were entitled to weight. + +In the States-general of France each member was, by the original +constitution of that body, a delegate, and not a representative. He +could not even remonstrate against the most oppressive grievance of +which the previous instructions of the constituent body had not +instructed him to complain; and this limitation of his duties and powers +was, undoubtedly, one very principal cause which led to the +States-general so rapidly falling into utter disrepute. It was no light +thing to take a step which had a tendency to bring down the British +Parliament to the level of the despised and long-disused States-general. +And it is the more necessary to put the case in a clear and true light, +because at the present day there is an evident disposition on the part +of constituencies to avail themselves of Peel's conduct in this instance +as a precedent, in spite of his protest against its being so regarded, +and to fetter their representatives with precise instructions; and a +corresponding willingness on the part of candidates to purchase support +at elections by a submissive giving of pledges on a variety of subjects, +so numerous as to leave themselves no freedom of judgment at all. On the +great majority of subjects which come before Parliament, a member of +Parliament, if he be a sensible and an honest man, has a far better +opportunity of obtaining correct information and forming a sound opinion +than can be within reach of any constituency, whose proneness to +misjudge is usually in exact proportion to the magnitude of its numbers. +Every elector justifiably may, and naturally will, seek to ascertain +that between the candidate whom he supports and himself there is a +general conformity of opinion; an absolute identity he will never find, +and he has no right to ask.[215] + +Notes: + +[Footnote 182: L118,776,000. Alison, c. lxxvi.] + +[Footnote 183: See Lord Malmesbury's account of their first +interview.--_Diaries of Lord Malmesbury_, iii., 218.] + +[Footnote 184: "Parliamentary Debates," series 2, ii., 632.] + +[Footnote 185: Mr. Brougham gave his opinion that if the Duke of York, +or any other member of the royal family, had been named, it would have +been offensive to the Queen; but the measure adopted he regarded as of a +neutral character. (Mentioned by Lord Liverpool, "Life of Lord +Liverpool," iii., 55.)] + +[Footnote 186: "Minutes of Cabinet," dated 10th and 14th February, 1820, +forwarded the King by Lord Liverpool ("Life of Lord Liverpool," iii., +35-88).] + +[Footnote 187: "Life of Sir J. Mackintosh," by R.J. Mackintosh, ii., +110, 116.] + +[Footnote 188: "Lives of the Chief-justices," iii., 171.] + +[Footnote 189: In a letter on the subject to Lord Liverpool, the Duke +goes the length of calling the proposed bill "an experiment which, +should it fail, must entail the dreadful alternative of the entire ruin +of the landed interests of the empire, with which he is decidedly of +opinion that the nation must stand or fall."--_Life of Lord Liverpool_, +iii., 434.] + +[Footnote 190: At one time it was the fashion with writers of the +Liberal party to represent Lord Liverpool as led by Lord Castlereagh in +the earlier, and by Canning in the later, part of his administration; +but Lord Liverpool's correspondence with both these ministers shows +clearly that on every subject of foreign as well as of home policy he +was the real guide and ruler of his cabinet. Even the recognition of the +independence of the South American provinces of Spain--which is so often +represented as exclusively the work of Canning--the memorandum on the +subject which Lord Liverpool drew up for the cabinet proves that the +policy adopted was entirely his own, and that as such he adhered to it +resolutely, in spite of the avowed disapproval of the Duke of Wellington +and the known unwillingness of the King to sanction it; and it may be +remarked (as he and Lord Castlereagh have sometime been described as +favoring the Holy Alliance), that the concluding sentence of his letter +to the Duke on the subject expresses his hostility, not only to that +celebrated treaty, but to the policy which dictated and was embodied in +it. (See Lord Liverpool's memorandum for the cabinet and letter to the +Duke of Wellington, December 8, 1824.)--_Life of Lord Liverpool_, iii., +297-305.] + +[Footnote 191: See ante, p. 222.] + +[Footnote 192: "With much prudence or laudable disinterestedness," says +Hallam ("Constitutional History," ii., 532).] + +[Footnote 193: The last time had been in 1790, when there had been a +majority of 187 against it.--_Peel's Memoirs_, i., 99.] + +[Footnote 194: 237 to 193.] + +[Footnote 195: "Peel's Memoirs," i., 68.] + +[Footnote 196: "Wellington's Civil Despatches," iv., 453.] + +[Footnote 197: See his letter to Peel, March 23 ("Peel's Memoirs," i., +92-100).] + +[Footnote 198: The entry of this bill in Cobbett's "Parliamentary +History" is: "The House of Commons testified a very extraordinary zeal +in unravelling the Popish Plot, and, to prevent mischief in the +interval, passed a bill to disable Papists from sitting in either House +of Parliament," to which the Lords, when the bill came up to their +House, added a proviso exempting the Duke of York from its operation. +An. 1678; October 26 to November 21.---_Parliamentary History_, iv., +1024-1039.] + +[Footnote 199: In the House of Commons the majority for Sir F. Burdett's +resolution was six--372 to 266. But, in the House of Lords, Lord +Lansdowne, moving the same resolution, was defeated by forty-five--182 +to 137.] + +[Footnote 200: See Fitzgerald's letter to Peel ("Peel's Memoirs," i., +114).] + +[Footnote 201: "Peel's Memoirs," i., 121.] + +[Footnote 202: See "Lord Anglesey's Letters," _ibid._, pp. 126, 147.] + +[Footnote 203: As early as the year 1812, on the negotiations (mentioned +in a former chapter) for the entrance of Lord Grenville and Lord Grey +into the ministry, the Duke of York mentioned to both those noblemen +that the Regent had an insuperable objection to the concession of +Emancipation. And it seems probable that it was the knowledge of his +sentiments on that point that greatly influenced the course which Lord +Liverpool subsequently pursued in regard to that question.--See _Life of +Lord Liverpool_, i, 381.] + +[Footnote 204: Speech on moving the second reading of the bill in the +House of Lords, February 19, 1829 ("Hansard," xx., 389).] + +[Footnote 205: Speech on the first reading of the bill, February 10 +("Hansard," xx., 208).] + +[Footnote 206: Speech on the first reading ("Hansard," xx., 198).] + +[Footnote 207: An amendment was proposed by Lord Chandos to add the +office of Prime-minister to these three, on the ground that if a Roman +Catholic were Prime-minister "he might have the disposal of all the +patronage of the state and the Church vested in his hands." But Mr. Peel +pointed out that the law of England "never recognized any such office as +that of Prime-minister. In the eyes of the law the ministers were all on +an equality." And the position, such as it was, being a conventional +one, was not necessarily connected with the office of First Lord of the +Treasury. "In a recent instance his late right honorable friend, Mr. +Canning, had determined to hold the office of Prime-minister with that +of Secretary of State. And when Lord Chatham was Prime-minister, he did +not hold the office of First Lord of the Treasury." At the same time he +explained that the impropriety of intrusting a Roman Catholic with +Church patronage was already guarded against in the bill, a clause of +which provided that "it should not be lawful for any person professing +the Roman Catholic religion directly or indirectly to advise the crown +in any appointment to or disposal of any office or preferment, lay or +ecclesiastical, in the united Church of England and Ireland, or of the +Church of Scotland."--_Hansard_, xx., 1425.] + +[Footnote 208: Many years afterward the restriction as to the Lord +Chancellorship of Ireland was abolished.] + +[Footnote 209: The plan which Pitt had intended to propose was to +substitute in lieu of the Sacramental test a political test, to be +imposed indiscriminately on all persons sitting in Parliament, or +holding state or corporation offices, and also on all ministers of +religion, of whatever description, etc., etc. This test was to disclaim +in express terms the sovereignty of the people, and was to contain an +oath of allegiance and "fidelity to the King's government of the realm, +and to the established constitutions of Church and state."--Letter of +Lord Grenville, given in _Courts and Cabinets of George III._, and +quoted by Lord Stanhope, _Life of Pitt_, iii., 270. This plan seems very +preferable to that now adopted, since it removed every appearance of +making a distinction between the professors of the different creeds, +when the same oath was to be taken by all indifferently.] + +[Footnote 210: The question had been discussed with the highest Papal +authorities more than once since the beginning of the century. In 1812 +Mgr. Quarantotti, the prelate who, during the detention of the Pope in +France by Napoleon, was invested with the chief authority in +ecclesiastical affairs at Rome, in a letter to the Vicar-apostolic, Dr. +Poynter, formally announced the consent of the Papal See to give the +King a veto on all ecclesiastical appointments within the United +Kingdom; and, after his return to Rome, Pio VII. himself confirmed the +former title by a second addressed, by his instructions, to the same Dr. +Poynter, which letter, in 1816, was read by Mr. Grattan in the House of +Commons, it being throughout understood that this concession of the veto +to the King was conditional on the abolition of the disabilities and the +endowment of the priesthood. And in 1825, after Lord Francis Egerton's +resolution had been carried in the House of Commons, Dr. Doyle, one of +the most eminent of the Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland, in an +examination before a committee of the House of Lords, expressed the +willingness of the Roman Catholic clergy to accept a state provision, if +it were permanently annexed to each benefice, and accompanied with a +concession of an equality of civil rights to the Roman Catholic +laity.--See _Life of Lord Liverpool_, ii, 145; _Diary of Lord +Colchester, March_ 17, 1835, iii., 373; _Peel's Memoirs_, i., 306, 333 +_seq._] + +[Footnote 211: The sum to be thus employed seems to have been intended +to be L300,000 a year.--_Peel's Memoirs_, i., 197. On the whole question +of the payment and Peel's objections to it, see _ibid._, pp. 197, 306.] + +[Footnote 212: See his "Civil Despatches," iv., 570. In February, 1829, +he said to Lord Sidmouth, "It is a bad business, but we are aground." +"Does your Grace think, then," asked Lord Sidmouth, "that this +concession will tranquillize Ireland?" "I can't tell; I hope it will," +answered the Duke, who shortly discovered, and had the magnanimity to +admit, his mistake.--_Life of Lord Sidmouth_, iii., 453. It is +remarkable that the question of endowing the Roman Catholic clergy was +again considered by Lord John Russell's ministry in 1848. A letter of +Prince Albert in October of that year says, with reference to it: "The +bishops have protested against Church endowment, being themselves well +off; but the clergy would gratefully accept it if offered, but dare not +avow this."--_Life of the Prince Consort_, ii., 186.] + +[Footnote 213: This first extract refers in part to the proposal which +he made to the Duke to resign his office as Secretary of State, and to +support the Emancipation as a private member, a design which he only +relinquished at the Duke's earnest entreaty. The second extract refers +to the seat in Parliament alone.--See _Peel's Memoirs_, i., 310, 312.] + +[Footnote 214: Speech to the electors of Bristol on being declared by +the sheriffs duly elected member for that city, November 3, +1774.--_Burke's Works_, iii., 11, ed 1803.] + +[Footnote 215: It is worth pointing out, however, that, as if it were +one of the natural fruits of the Reform Bill, the Liberal Committee of +the Livery of London in 1832 passed a series of resolutions asserting +the principle of delegation without the slightest modification; one +resolution affirming "that members chosen to be representatives in +Parliament ought to do such things as their constituents wish and direct +them to do;" another, "that a signed engagement should be exacted from +every member that he would at all times and in all things act +conformably to the wishes of a majority of his constituents, or would at +their request resign the trust with which they had honored +him."--_Annual Register_, 1832, p. 300; _quoted by Alison_, 2d series, +v., 355.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Demand for Parliamentary Reform.--Death of George IV., and Accession of +William IV.--French Revolution of 1830.--Growing Feeling in Favor of +Reform.--Duke of Wellington's Declaration against Reform.--His +Resignation: Lord Grey becomes Prime-minister.--Introduction of the +Reform Bill.--Its Details.--Riots at Bristol and Nottingham.--Proposed +Creation of Peers.--The King's Message to the Peers.--Character and +Consequences of the Reform Bill.--Appointment of a Regency.-- +Re-arrangement of the Civil List. + + +One of Pitt's great measures of domestic, apart from financial or +commercial, policy having become law, it seemed in some degree natural +to look for the accomplishment of the other, a reform of the House of +Commons, which, indeed, after the conclusion of the war, had been made +at times the subject of earnest petition, being one in which a far +greater number of people had a lively interest than that excited by +Catholic Emancipation. The Englishmen who had advocated that measure had +been striving for the adoption of a principle rather than for a +concession from which they could expect any personal benefit, since very +few in any English or Scotch constituency were Roman Catholics, or +desired to return a Roman Catholic representative. But thousands in +every county, including the whole body of citizens of some of the +largest and most flourishing towns, felt a personal concern in the +attainment of Parliamentary Reform, as the measure which would give +them, and which could alone give them, that voice in the affairs of the +kingdom to which they felt themselves entitled, but which they had never +yet enjoyed. + +And before the end of the next session the prospect of the early success +of their aspirations was greatly increased by the death of the King. +George IV., who in his early manhood had attached himself to the Whigs +with an ardor and ostentation altogether unbecoming his position as heir +to the throne, had formally separated himself from them after the death +of Fox in 1806, and had gradually come to regard their adversaries with +a favor as exclusive as he had formerly shown to themselves. But the +Duke of Clarence, who now succeeded to the throne, had always shown a +leaning toward the Whigs, who of late had been commonly regarded as the +reforming party. While the war lasted, and during the few remaining +years of the reign of George III., no active steps toward Reform were +taken in Parliament; but under George IV. more than one borough +convicted of gross and habitual corruption, as has been mentioned, was +disfranchised. Grampound was so punished in the time of Lord Liverpool, +and its members were transferred to Yorkshire, so as to give that +largest of the counties four representatives; and it may be remarked +that this arrangement caused the Prime-minister to suggest an +improvement in the details of an election--which was afterward +universally adopted--when, in reply to a remark on the great +inconvenience that was found to exist in taking the poll at once in so +large a county as Yorkshire, he hinted at the possibility of obviating +that difficulty by allowing polls to be taken in different parts of the +county. And, since the Duke had been in office, two more boroughs, +Penrhyn and East Retford, had also been disfranchised; though the +Reformers failed in their endeavor to get the seats thus vacated +transferred to Manchester and Birmingham. With the accession of the new +sovereign, however, they became more active. They found encouragement in +other circumstances also. Many of those who were commonly called the +Ultra Tories had been so alienated from the Duke's government by the +Emancipation Act, that they were known to be ready to coalesce with +almost any party for the sake of overturning his administration. +Moreover, as forty years before, the French Revolution of 1789 had +caused great political excitement in England, so now the new French +revolution of July acted as a strong stimulus on the movement party in +this as well as in other countries; and altogether there was a very +general feeling that the time for important changes had come. The Duke +of Wellington was not blind to the prevalence of the idea; and, being by +no means willing to admit that his own policy of the preceding year had +in the least contributed to strengthen it, he conceived it to be his +duty to discountenance it by every means in his power; but the steps +which he took with that object only invigorated and inflamed it. As +Prime-minister, he inserted in the speech with which the new sovereign +opened his first Parliament in the autumn after his accession a general +panegyric on that "happy form of government under which, through the +favor of Divine Providence, this country had enjoyed for a long +succession of years a greater share of internal peace, of commercial +prosperity, of true liberty, of all that constitutes social happiness, +than had fallen to the lot of any other country of the world." And in +his own character, a few nights afterward, he added a practical +commentary on those sentences of the royal speech, when, in allusion to +Lord Grey's expression of a hope that the ministers would prepare "to +redress the grievances of the people by a reform of the Parliament," he +repudiated the suggestion altogether, avowing that the government were +contemplating no such measure, and adding that "he would go farther, and +say that he had never read or heard of any measure up to that moment +which in any degree satisfied his mind that the state of the +representation could be improved or rendered more satisfactory to the +country at large than at that moment. He was fully convinced that the +country possessed at that moment a Legislature which answered all good +purposes of legislation to a greater degree than any Legislature had +ever answered them in any country whatever.... And he would at once +declare that, as far as he was concerned, as long as he held any station +in the government of the country, he should always feel it his duty to +resist any measure of Reform when proposed by others." + +Such uncompromising language was, not unnaturally, regarded by the +Opposition in both Houses as a direct defiance, and the challenge was +promptly taken up both in and out of Parliament. It happened that at +this moment the ministry was extremely unpopular in the City; not, +indeed, on account of his hostility to Reform, but in consequence of the +recent introduction by the Home-secretary of a police force in London, +on the model of one which the Duke himself, when Irish Secretary, had +established in Dublin. The old watchmen had been so notoriously +inefficient that it might have been expected that the change would have +been hailed with universal approval and gratitude, but it met with a +very different reception. Many of the newspapers which had not yet +forgiven the passing of Catholic Emancipation made it a ground for the +strongest imputations on the Duke himself, some of them even going the +length of affirming that he aimed at the throne, and that the +organization of this new force was the means on which he reckoned for +the attainment of his object. No story is too gross for the credulity of +the populace. To hear of such a plot was to believe it; to believe it +was to resolve to defeat it; and at the beginning of November the +government received several warnings that a plan was in agitation to +raise a formidable riot on Lord Mayor's Day, when the King and the Duke +himself were expected to dine with the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor even +wrote to the Duke to suggest the prudence of his coming "strongly and +sufficiently guarded," and the result of this advice was certainly +strange. The Duke cared little enough about personal danger to himself, +but he regarded himself as specially bound by his office to watch over +the public tranquillity, and to do nothing that might be expected to +endanger it. He was at least equally solicitous that a new reign should +not open with a tumult which could in any way be regarded as an insult +to the King; and, under the influence of these feelings, he took the +responsibility of giving the King the unprecedented advice of abandoning +his intention of being present at the Guildhall banquet. Such a step had +an inevitable tendency to weaken the ministry still farther by the +comments which it provoked. Even his own brother, Lord Wellesley, did +not spare his sarcasms, pronouncing it "the boldest act of cowardice he +had ever heard of;" while the Reformers ascribed the unpopularity which +it confessed to the Duke's declaration against any kind or degree of +Reform; and, to test the correctness of this opinion, Mr. Brougham, who, +in the House of Commons, was the most eloquent champion of Reform, gave +notice of a motion on the subject for the 16th of November. Before that +day came, however, the ministry had ceased to exist. On the preceding +evening it had been defeated on a proposal to refer to a select +committee the consideration of the Civil List, a new settlement of which +was indispensable at the beginning of a new reign, and on the morning of +the 16th the Duke resigned, not only advising the King to intrust the +formation of the new cabinet to Lord Grey--who was universally +recognized as the head of the Whig party--but recommending his Majesty +also to be prepared to consent to a measure of moderate Reform, which, +though he could not bring himself to co-operate in it, he was satisfied +that the temper of the House of Commons, if not of the people +out-of-doors also, rendered unavoidable.[216] The advice was taken. Lord +Grey had no difficulty in forming a ministry in which the Whigs were +aided by the junction of several of the more moderate Tories, who had +regarded Canning as their leader; and from the very beginning +Parliamentary Reform was proclaimed to be the one great object of his +government. It would be more correct to call it a Reform of the House of +Commons, since there was no idea of interfering with the House of Lords, +even in those parts of it which were of a representative character, the +Scotch and Irish peers. But, by whatever title the ministerial policy +was designated, no one misunderstood what was intended; and as +Parliament was, after a few days, adjourned over the Christmas holidays, +the recess was spent by a sub-committee of the cabinet in framing a +measure. + +The great extension of our trade, which was the fruit partly of his wise +commercial policy, and partly of the long war; the rapid and prodigious +growth of our manufactures, developed by the inventive ingenuity of our +mechanics and engineers, had given a consideration and influence to the +commercial, manufacturing, and moneyed classes which could not be +disregarded. The land-owners, who had previously almost monopolized the +representation, no longer constituted the wealthiest class of the +community. Pitt himself had raised a banker to the peerage. More +recently, men closely connected with the commercial classes had become +cabinet ministers, one of whom had even subsequently sacrificed office +to his feeling of the propriety of enfranchising a single town, +Birmingham. But there were other towns at least equal in importance to +Birmingham which were unrepresented, and it was clearly impossible to +maintain a system which gave representatives to boroughs like Gatton, +Old Sarum, or Corfe Castle--where the electors scarcely outnumbered the +members whom they elected--and withheld them from large and opulent +manufacturing centres like Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield. The +enfranchisement, therefore, of these towns, and of others whose +population and consequent importance, though inferior to theirs, was +still vastly superior to those of many which had hitherto returned +representatives, was so manifestly reasonable and consistent with the +principles of our parliamentary constitution, that it was impossible to +object to it. And their enfranchisement unavoidably led to the +disfranchisement of the smaller boroughs, unless the House of Commons +were to be enlarged to a number which was not likely to tend to the +facilitation of business. Indeed, in the opinion of the framers of the +bill, the House was _already too large_, and they proposed to reduce its +number by upward of sixty--a step to which it is probable that many of +those whose opposition contributed to defeat it subsequently repented of +their resistance. Nevertheless, the line adopted by the Duke of +Wellington's ministry showed that there was still a large party to whom +reform on a large scale was altogether distasteful; and accordingly the +bill which, under the influence of these considerations, Lord Grey's +administration brought forward in the spring of 1831, gave rise to the +fiercest struggles in both Houses of Parliament that had been witnessed +for many generations. One Parliament was dissolved; two sessions of that +which followed were opened in a single year; once the ministry itself +was dissolved, though speedily reconstructed; and three bills were +framed, each in some degree differing from its predecessor in some of +its details, though all preserved the same leading principles of +disfranchising wholly or partially the smaller boroughs; of +enfranchising several large and growing towns; of increasing the number +of county representatives; and of enfranchising also some classes which +previously had had no right of voting. It would be a waste of time to +specify the variations in the three bills. It is sufficient to confine +our attention to that which eventually became law. Fifty-six boroughs +were wholly disfranchised; those in which the population fell short of a +certain number (2000), and where the amount of assessed taxes paid by +the inhabitants was correspondingly small. Thirty more were deprived of +one of their members, being those in which the population was between +2000 and 4000. And the seats thus vacated were divided between the towns +which since the Revolution had gradually grown into importance, the +suburbs of the metropolis, and the counties, the majority of which were +now divided into two halves, each half returning two members, as many as +had previously represented the whole. The boundaries of the boroughs, +too, were in most cases extended. + +More important, perhaps, in its influence on subsequent legislation was +the alteration made in the qualifications which constituted an elector. +Hitherto the franchise, the right of voting at elections, had been based +on property. The principle had not, indeed, been uniformly adhered to in +the boroughs, where, as Lord John Russell, in the speech with which he +introduced the bill, pointed out, a curious variety of courses had been +adopted. "In some," as he described the existing practice, "the +franchise was exercised by 'a select corporation;' that is to say, it +was in the possession of a small number of persons, to the exclusion of +the great body of the inhabitants who had property and interest in the +place represented. In ancient times, he believed, every freeman, being +an inhabitant householder resident in the borough, was competent to +vote. As, however, this arrangement excluded villeins and strangers, the +franchise always belonged to a particular body in every town--a body +undoubtedly possessed of property, for they bore the charges of their +members, and on them were assessed the subsidies and taxes voted by +Parliament. But when villeinage ceased, various and opposite courses +seemed to have been pursued in different boroughs. In some, adopting the +liberal principle that all freemen were to be admitted, householders of +all kinds, down to the lowest degree, and even sometimes beyond, were +admitted. In others, adopting the exclusive principle that villeins and +strangers were no part of the burgesses, new corporations were erected, +and the elective franchise was more or less confined to a select body." +But all these diversities and varieties were now swept away, and a +uniform franchise was established, all tenants whose rent amounted to +L10 receiving the franchise in boroughs, while by a kindred amendment, +which was forced on the ministers at a very early stage of the measure, +tenants at will whose tent amounted to L50 became entitled to vote in +the counties. + +The arrangements for taking the poll were also greatly changed. Instead +of the fifteen days which had of late been allowed for a county +election, two were now thought sufficient.[217] In boroughs the time was +abridged in a similar proportion, and the arrangement was facilitated by +a division of counties into several convenient polling districts, so +that no elector should require to travel more than a few miles to record +his vote. + +This last change was universally accepted as a great practical +improvement, from its tendency to lessen the expense of election +contests, which had risen to an enormous and ruinous height. But every +other part of the scheme was viewed with the greatest repugnance, not to +say dread, by the Opposition; and every one of the bills was fought step +by step in the House of Commons. The first bill was only carried by a +majority of one; the second was absolutely rejected by the House of +Lords; and on the third the ministers, after carrying it triumphantly +through the Lower House, were defeated in the Upper House on a point of +detail, which, though of no great importance in itself, they regarded as +an indication that the peers, though they had consented to read it a +second time, would insist on remodelling it to a great degree, and, if +they were not allowed to do so, would again reject it altogether. + +Meanwhile, the people were wrought up to a pitch of frenzy absolutely +unprecedented. Never had agitators, among whom some of the ministers +themselves were not ashamed to appear, been so unscrupulous in their +endeavors to excite discontent. One cabinet minister wrote inflammatory +articles in the newspapers; another publicly called the legitimate +opposition of the peers "the whisper of a faction." And their exertions +soon bore fearful fruit. In London some of the peers who had been most +prominent in their objections to the bill were hooted and pelted, and +one, Lord Londonderry, was nearly murdered. The King and Queen were +insulted by mobs in the Park, some of the rioters even openly +threatening the Queen with death, because she was believed to be +favorable to the anti-Reformers. In some of the most important +provincial towns the discontent broke out into actual insurrection. At +Bristol a tumultuous mob, whose numbers were swelled by crowds of the +worst ruffians of the metropolis, sought to murder the Recorder, Sir +Charles Wetherall, when he came down to that city to hold the +quarter-sessions; and, when defeated in their attack on him, stormed the +Mansion House, and set it, with the Bishop's Palace and other public +buildings, and scores of private houses, on fire, several of the rioters +themselves, who had got drunk, perishing in the flames. A similar mob +rose in arms at Derby, but did less mischief, as there the magistrates +knew their duty better. But Nottingham almost equalled Bristol in its +horrors. Because the Duke of Newcastle was a resolute anti-Reformer, a +ferocious gang attacked and set on fire the fine old Castle; and, not +content with committing fearful ravages in the town, roamed over the +adjacent district, attacked the houses of many of the leading country +gentlemen, plundering and burning the dwellings, and in more than one +instance murdering some of the inhabitants. + +The King had hitherto borne himself between the contending parties in +the state with scrupulous fairness to both. Though, he had, probably, +been taken by surprise by the sweeping character of the changes his +ministers had proposed, he had given them a frank support, consenting, +even at a moment's notice, to dissolve the Parliament after the +unfavorable division in the House of Commons on the first bill; but he +had, at the same time, warned them that he would never consent to employ +any means of coercion to overbear the free decision of the House of +Lords. And he had more than once rejected as unconstitutional their +solicitations to allow them to make peers with that object. At last they +endeavored to compel his consent by resigning their offices, though the +ground for so decided a step can hardly be deemed sufficient, since the +provocation which they alleged was only Lord Lyndhurst's success in +carrying an amendment to take the enfranchising clauses of the bill +before those of disfranchisement, so as to give the latter a more +gracious appearance, as if the boroughs to be extinguished were made to +suffer, not so much for their own positive unworthiness as in order to +make room for others which had become of undeniably greater importance. +The King took the strictly constitutional line of accepting their +resignation and intrusting the Duke of Wellington with the task of +forming a new administration, warning the Duke, at the same time, that +he considered himself now pledged to grant a large measure of Reform; +but the Duke found the task impracticable, and then, as the only means +of averting farther insurrectionary tumults, which bore no slight +resemblance to civil war, and might not impossibly end in it, the King +did at last consent to permit the creation of a sufficient number of +peers to insure the passing of the bill. But he could not overcome his +repugnance to the measure as a severe blow to the constitution--one +which would in effect be tantamount to the extinction of the +independence of the Upper House as a legislative body; and, thinking no +means unjustifiable that would avert the necessity of such a creation, +he conceived the idea of authorizing his private secretary, Sir Herbert +Taylor, to request the chief peers on the Opposition side to absent +themselves from the division on the third reading. It seemed to him, and +indeed to many of them, the only thing that could be done. Their +judgment of the character and eventual consequences of the ministerial +bill was unaltered; but they saw the violence of the public feeling on +the subject, and the danger to the state of too stubborn and +uncompromising a resistance to it, and, yielding loyal obedience to +their royal master's wish, they retired from the House without voting. +Those who remained passed the bill, and in the beginning of June, 1832, +it became law. + +We have ventured in a previous chapter to call in question the propriety +of the conduct of the King's father, George III., in using his personal +entreaties to influence the House of Lords against the India Bill of Mr. +Fox. The transaction which has been related here is the second and only +other instance since the Revolution of a sovereign having recourse to +such a device to sway the votes of members of either House. But the +circumstances were so entirely different, nay, so diametrically +opposite, that an opinion of the impropriety of the sovereign's deed in +the former case imposes no obligation on the ground of consistency to +censure it in the later instance. The interference of George III. was +designed to thwart and defeat his ministers on a measure of which he had +not previously intimated any disapproval. William IV., on the other +hand, was exerting himself to support his ministers, not, as it seems +probable, without some sacrifice of his own judgment. His father acted +as he did to avert an inroad on his prerogative and independence, which +he had been persuaded to apprehend, but the danger of which can hardly +be said to have been proved beyond all question; so that even those who +think the result of his action fortunate for the nation cannot defend +the action as one that on any constitutional principle can be justified. +The son, at a far more critical moment, adopted the course which he did +adopt as the only means which he saw of extricating the state and the +nation from an alternative of great calamities: the extinction of, or at +least a deep wound to, the legislative independence of the House of +Lords, by the following of a single precedent[218] which had ever since +been universally condemned; or, on the other hand, a continuance of +outrages and tumults which had already disgraced the nation in the eyes +of the world, and which, if renewed and continued, could not fail to +imperil the safety of the state. Such a motive may certainly be allowed +to excuse the irregularity of the act. + +When, however, we come to consider the proposal to create peers, which +drove the King to take such a step, that is a question on which, while +it is still more important, it is also more difficult to form a +satisfactory judgment. It was denounced by the Duke of Wellington and +other peers as utterly unconstitutional and revolutionary; as a +destruction of the great principle of the equality of the two Houses; as +a denial to the peers of their right to form and act upon their own +deliberate judgment; and as a reduction of their position to that of a +body existing merely to register the decrees of the other House. Indeed, +that it had this character was admitted by Lord Grey himself, with no +abatement beyond such mitigation as might be found in the idea that it +was only intended to affect their decision on a single question. So far +it may be said that even while defending it he condemned it; _Habemus +confitentem reum_. But the task of a ruler or legislator is often but a +choice between difficulties, or even between manifest evils. And, even +if an act or course be admitted to be intrinsically evil, taken by +itself, yet, if the evil which it is calculated or designed to avert be +a greater evil still, the defence is complete, or, at all events, +sufficient. And this, in fact, is the principle of the justification +which Lord Grey alleged. He was, perhaps, unconsciously referring to a +passage in Mr. Hallam's great work on "Constitutional History" (then +very recently published), in which, while discussing Sunderland's +Peerage Bill, and admitting that "the unlimited prerogative of +augmenting the peerage is liable to such abuses, at least in theory, as +might overthrow our form of government," he proceeds to point out that +in the exercise of this, as of every other power, "the crown has been +carefully restrained by statutes, and by the responsibility of its +advisers;" but that, while "the Commons, if they transgress their +boundaries, are annihilated by a proclamation" (that is, by a +dissolution) "against the ambition, or, what is much more likely, the +perverse haughtiness of the aristocracy, the constitution has not +furnished such direct securities.... The resource of subduing an +aristocratical faction by the creation of new peers could never be +constitutionally employed, except in the case of a nearly equal balance; +but it might usefully hang over the heads of the whole body, and deter +them from any gross excesses of faction or oligarchical spirit. The +nature of our government requires a general harmony between the two +Houses of Parliament."[219] In the present case no one could impute the +difference between the two Houses to any "perverse haughtiness" on the +part of the peers. But the difference existed, and was too deeply +founded on the cautious principles of the Tory party to be surmountable +by ordinary means. It was certain also that the Commons would not give +way; that, without danger to the public peace, they could not give way. +And this was, in fact, Lord Grey's contention: that a crisis had arisen +in which compulsion must be exercised on one or other of the disagreeing +parties; and that coercion of the peers by an augmentation of their +number, or a threat of it, was the only compulsion practicable. In +upholding this position, however, it must be remarked that he was +betrayed into the use of language which was as great a violation of +constitutional and parliamentary principle and usage as the action which +he was recommending; language, too, which was quite unnecessary to +strengthen his argument. He accused the Lords of "opposing the declared +and decided wishes both of the crown and the people;" of "acting +adversely to the crown;" and this introduction of the sovereign's name +to overawe the assembly was unconstitutional in the highest degree. For, +constitutionally, the sovereign has no right to signify his opinion, +nor, indeed, any recognized means of signifying it but by giving or +withholding his royal assent to measures which the two Houses have +passed. On any bill which has not yet been passed by them he has, as has +been already implied, no legitimate means whatever of expressing his +judgment. The time has not come for him to do so. Moreover, the +statement was, probably, not believed by any one to be strictly true, +for it was pretty generally understood that the King would have +preferred a far more moderate measure. But, indeed, in the very speech +in which the Prime-minister made this use of the King's name he +presently added an observation which was a sufficient condemnation of +his previous language. For, in denouncing the "vile attacks which had +been made on his Majesty in the public press," and disclaiming all share +in them (a disclaimer which however true of himself, could not, it is +believed, have been uttered with equal truth by all his colleagues), he +pointed out that "it ought always to be recollected that it is contrary +to the principles of the constitution to arraign the personal conduct of +the sovereign." It follows, as a matter of course, that it is equally +contrary to those principles to allege his personal opinions in either +House on any measure before it, since, if alleged, they must be open to +criticism; unless, indeed, the mere allegation of the royal sentiments +were to be taken as decisive of the question, in which case all freedom +of discussion would be at once extinguished. + +But this irregularity, into which the Prime minister was apparently +betrayed by his desire of victory, must not be allowed to affect our +verdict on the main question; and, now that the lapse of time has +enabled us to contemplate dispassionately the case on which he had to +decide, it will, probably, be thought that his justification of his +conduct in recommending a creation of peers is fairly made out. That, +under any pressure short of that, the peers would have again rejected +the Reform Bill, or at least would have pared it down to much smaller +proportions than would have satisfied the popular demand for Reform, may +be regarded as certain; and equally certain that such a line of conduct +would have led to a renewal of disgraceful and dangerous tumults. The +minister, therefore, as has been said before, had to choose between two +evils. It was a grievous dilemma; but those who had to deal with it +(even while it may be admitted that they cannot be held wholly free from +blame, as having themselves contributed by their own language to the +popular excitement and irritation)[220] may be excused for thinking the +wound inflicted on the constitution, by thus overbearing the voice of +one House of Parliament on a single occasion, less formidable in its +immediate fruit, and more capable of being remedied and retrieved, than +that which would have followed from a renewal of insurrectionary +tumults, even if they should have come short of actual civil war. + +One critic of these transactions[221] whose experience and high +reputation entitle his opinion to respectful consideration, after +reminding his readers that, "although Parliament is said to be +dissolved, a dissolution extends, in fact, no farther than to the +Commons, and that the Peers are not affected by it; no change can take +place in the constitution of their body, except as to a small number of +Scotch representative peers," proceeds to argue that, "so far as the +House of Peers is concerned, a creation of peers by the crown on +extraordinary occasions is the only equivalent which the constitution +has provided for the change and renovation of the House of Commons by a +dissolution. In no other way can the opinions of the House of Lords be +brought into harmony with those of the people." But it may be feared +that this comparison is rather ingenious than solid. Indeed, the writer +himself limits such an expedient as a creation of peers to insure the +passing of a particular measure to "extraordinary occasions." But a +dissolution of the House of Commons is so far from being so limited, +that it is the natural and inevitable end of every House of Commons +after an existence which cannot exceed seven years, and which is very +rarely so protracted. And though it may be, and probably has been, the +case that a House of Commons has passed measures to which it had no +great inclination, lest it should provoke a minister to a premature +dissolution, yet no submission on its part can long postpone it; and a +threat or apprehension of a dissolution would certainly fail to overcome +the opposition of the House of Commons, or of a party within it, if the +measure before them seemed open to serious objection. The presumed or +presumable immortality of the one body, and the limited existence of the +other, seem to constitute so essential a difference between them as must +prevent the measures adopted toward one being fairly regarded as any +guide to a justification of those employed in the case of the other. + +The Reform Bill of 1832 has sometimes been called a new Revolution, and +to some extent it deserved the name; for it was not, like the Catholic +Emancipation Act, a mere restoration of privileges to any class or +classes of the people which had once been enjoyed by them, and had +subsequently been withdrawn, but it was a grant of a wholly new +privilege to places and to classes which had never enjoyed it; while it +was manifest that the political power thus conferred on these classes +involved a corresponding diminution of the powers of those who had +hitherto monopolized it. It was also the introduction of a new +principle. The old doctrine of the constitution had been, that the +possession of freehold property, as the only permanent stake in the +country, was the only qualification which could entitle a subject to a +voice in the government and legislation of the kingdom. The new doctrine +was that, as others besides owners of land contributed to the revenue by +the payment of taxes, those who did so contribute to a sufficient amount +had a right to a voice, however indirect or feeble, in the granting of +those taxes; and so far it was the extension and application to subjects +at home of the principle for which Lord Chatham and Burke had contended +sixty years before in the case of the American Colonies, that taxation +and a right to representation went together; a principle which, many +ages before, had been laid down by the greatest of our early kings as +the foundation of our parliamentary constitution and rights. But this +principle, however generally it may have been asserted, had hitherto +been but very partially carried out in practice, and the old borough +system had been skilfully devised by successive kings and ministers to +keep the political power in the hands of the crown and the aristocracy. +It was with that object that most of the boroughs which were first +allowed to return members under the Tudors had been enfranchised,[222] a +great noble or landholder, whose affection to the government could not +be doubted, being often able to obtain the promotion of some village or +petty town in the neighborhood of his estates to the dignity of a +parliamentary borough, and thus acquiring a great addition to his +political and social importance by his power of influencing the +election. No one could deny that the existence of such boroughs was an +abuse, or at least an anomaly, rendered the more conspicuous as time +went on by the denial of representatives to towns which contained as +many thousands of citizens as they could boast single burgesses. At the +same time it was equally undeniable that the aristocracy, generally +speaking, exerted their influence advantageously for the state. A peer +or great squire who could return the members for a borough took a worthy +pride in the abilities and reputation of those whom he thus sent to +Parliament; especially the leaders of the two parties sought out +promising young men for their seats; and it has often been pointed out +that, of the men who in the House of Commons had risen to eminence in +the country before the Reform Bill, there was scarcely one who had not +owed his introduction to Parliament to the patron of one of those +boroughs which were now wholly or partially disfranchised; while on one +or two occasions these "rotten boroughs," as, since Lord Chatham's time, +they were often derisively called, had proved equally useful in +providing seats for distinguished statesmen who, for some reason or +other, had lost the confidence of their former constituents. So, when +Bristol had disgraced itself by the rejection of Burke, Malton had +averted the loss with which Parliament and the country were threatened +by again, through the influence of Lord Rockingham, returning the great +statesman as their representative. So, to take a later instance, +Westbury, under the influence of Sir Manasseh Lopes, had provided a +refuge for Sir Robert Peel, when the course which he had taken on +Catholic Emancipation had cost him his seat for Oxford. And these +practical uses of these small boroughs--anomalies in a representative +system, as they were called in the debates on the subject, and as they +must be confessed to have been--were so important, that some even of +those who felt compelled by their principles to vote for their +parliamentary extinction have, nevertheless, confessed a regret for the +sacrifice, lamenting especially that it has, in a great degree, closed +the doors of the House of Commons against a class whose admission to it +is on every account most desirable, the promising young men of both +parties. + +In one point of great importance the framers of the Reform Bill of 1832 +proved to be mistaken. They justified the very comprehensive or sweeping +range which they had given it by their wish to make it a final +settlement of the question, and by the expression of their conviction +that the completeness with which it had satisfied all reasonable +expectations had effectually prevented any necessity for ever re-opening +the question. Their anticipations on this head were not shared by their +opponents, who, on the contrary, foretold that the very greatness of the +changes now effected would only whet the appetite for a farther +extension of them; nor by a growing party, now beginning to own the +title of Radicals, which till very recently had only been regarded as a +reproach, and who, even before the bill passed,[223] expressed their +discontent that it did not go farther, but accepted it as an instalment +of what was required, and as an instrument for securing "a more complete +improvement." And their expectations have been verified by subsequent +events. Indeed, it may easily be seen that the principles on which one +portion of the bill--that which enfranchised new classes of voters--was +framed were such as, in shrewd hands, might easily be adduced as +arguments in favor of the necessity of reconsideration of the question +from time to time. So long as the right of voting was confined to owners +of property, or members of corporate bodies, the line thus laid down was +one which was not liable to be crossed. But the moment that tenancy was +added to ownership, and a line was drawn distinguishing electors from +non-electors, not by the nature of their qualifications, but by the +amount of their rent, detail was substituted for principle; and the +proposer or maintainer of the rule that the qualification should be a +yearly rental of L10 might be called on to explain why, if L10 were a +more reasonable limit than L15, L8 were not fairer than L10. Or again, +if the original argument were, that a line must of necessity be drawn +somewhere, and that L10 was the lowest qualification which seemed to +guarantee such an amount of educated intelligence in the voter as would +enable him to exercise the franchise conferred on him judiciously and +honestly, such reasoning would from time to time invite the contention +that the spread of education had rendered L8 tenants now as enlightened +as L10 tenants had been some years before. And thus the measure of 1832, +instead of forever silencing the demand for Reform by the completeness +of its concessions, did in fact lay the foundation for future agitation, +which has been farther encouraged and fed by farther submission to it, +and which its leaders, who have so far triumphed, show no purpose to +discontinue. To discuss whether such extensions of the franchise as have +already been adopted, and those farther steps in the same direction +which are generally understood to be impending, will eventually be found +compatible with the preservation of our ancient monarchical +constitution, is a fitting task for the statesmen and senators whose +duty it is to examine in all their bearings the probable effects of the +measures which may be proposed. But the historian's business is rather +"to compile the records of the past" than to speculate on the +future.[224] And the course which was too perilous or difficult for Mr. +Hallam to undertake we will follow his example in avoiding. But it +cannot be denied that, if the Reform Bill of 1832 transferred the chief +political power of the state from the aristocracy to the middle classes, +a farther lowering of the qualification for the exercise of the +franchise must transfer it from the middle to the lower classes; and +that those who view such transfer with alarm, and deprecate it as +fraught with peril to all our ancient institutions, maintain their +opinions by arguments as old, indeed, as the days of the Roman +republic,[225] but which have not lost strength by lapse of time, if +indeed, they have not been fortified by events in the history of more +than one modern nation. + +Even before the introduction of the first Reform Bill one measure had +been passed of constitutional importance, though the concurrence of both +parties in its principle and details prevented it from attracting much +notice. Two daughters who had been born to the King and Queen had died +in their infancy, and the royal pair were now childless; and, as some +years had elapsed since the birth of the last, it was probable that they +might remain so. The presumptive heiress to the throne was, therefore, +the daughter of the deceased Duke of Kent, the Princess Victoria, our +present most gracious sovereign, and, as she was as yet only eleven +years of age, it was evidently necessary to provide for the contingency +of the death of the King before she should attain her majority. A +Regency Bill for that purpose had, therefore, been prepared by the Duke +of Wellington's cabinet, and had been introduced by Lord Chancellor +Lyndhurst in the House of Lords before the resignation of the ministry. +It could not be so simple in its arrangements as such bills had +sometimes been, since there was more than one contingency possible, for +which it was requisite to provide. It was possible not only that William +IV. might die within the next seven years, but also that at his death he +might leave a child, or his widow in a state which warranted the +expectation of one, the latter case being the more difficult to decide +upon, since no previous Regency Bill furnished any precedent for the +ministers' guidance. + +The first point, however, to be settled was, who was the most proper +person to administer the affairs of the kingdom as Regent, in the event +of the heiress to the crown being still a minor at the King's death. It +was a question on which it was evidently most desirable that no +difference of opinion should be expressed. And, in fact, no difference +existed. The leaders of both parties--the Duke and his colleagues, who +had framed the bill, and Lord Grey, with his colleagues, who adopted +it--agreed that the mother of the young sovereign would be the fittest +person to exercise the royal authority during the minority; and, +farther, that she should neither be fettered by any limitations to that +authority, nor by any councillors appointed by Parliament nominally to +advise and assist, but practically to control her. It was felt that a +Regent acting for a youthful daughter would need all the power which +could be given her; while, as she could never herself succeed to the +throne, she could be under no temptation, from views of personal +ambition, to misuse the power intrusted to her. + +At first sight it seemed a more difficult and delicate question what +course should be pursued with reference to the possible event of the +King dying while the Queen, his widow, was expecting to become a mother. +As has been said above, no precedent was to be found in any former bill; +yet it seemed to be determined by the old constitutional maxim, that the +King never dies. Not even for a moment could the throne be treated as +vacant, and, therefore, it was proposed and determined that in such a +case the Princess Victoria must instantly be proclaimed Queen, and the +Duchess of Kent must instantly assume the authority of Regent; but that, +on the birth of a posthumous child to the Queen Dowager, the Princess +and the Duchess, as a matter of course, should resume their previous +rank, and Queen Adelaide become Regent, and govern in the name of her +new-born infant and sovereign. The strict constitutional correctness of +the principle elaborately and eloquently expounded to the peers by Lord +Lyndhurst was unanimously admitted, and the precedent now set was +followed, with the needful modification, when, ten years afterward, it +became necessary to provide for the possibility of Queen Victoria dying +during the minority of her heir. The parent of the infant sovereign, +Prince Albert, was appointed Regent, with the cordial approval of the +nation; the dissent of the Queen's uncle, the Duke of Sussex who, with a +very misplaced ambition, urged instead the appointment of a Council of +Regency, of which he hoped to become the most influential member, only +serving to make the unanimity of the rest of the Parliament more +conspicuous. + +A somewhat kindred question, inasmuch as it affected the personal +arrangements, if they may be so termed, of the sovereign, was settled in +the same session, and on a new principle. What was called the Civil List +had hitherto been placed on a footing which was at once unintelligible +and misleading. The expression was first used at the Revolution, and was +applied not only to that portion of the revenue which was devoted to the +personal expenses of the sovereign, but also to many branches of the +civil expenditure of the state, with which, in fact, he had no concern +whatever. Not only the salaries of the great officers of the household, +but those also of the ministers, ambassadors, and of the judges, were +paid out of it, as well as those of many place-holders of various +classes, and pensions to a large amount. Amounts embracing such a +variety of miscellaneous and unconnected expenses could hardly be +expected to be kept with regularity, and there was lavish waste in every +department. Burke's bill had rectified some of the abuses, and had also +pointed out the way to some other reforms which were gradually adopted; +but still numbers of charges were left untouched, and there was scarcely +any one subject which afforded more topics to unscrupulous demagogues +than the amount of the Civil List, which the ignorant multitude were +constantly assured that the King enjoyed to squander on his own +pleasures, though, in fact, the greater part of it was expended in the +service of the state, and was entirely free from his control. Only a +portion of the sum which went under this name was voted annually by the +Parliament. A portion was derived from the Crown Lands, from duties +known as Droits of the Crown and Droits of the Admiralty, etc., the +amount of which fluctuated, and with which Parliament was admitted to +have no right to interfere. But the working of the whole was +satisfactory to no one--neither to the King himself, nor to those who +upheld the right of the Parliament to have a predominant control of +every branch of expenditure of the public money. The feeling that the +whole of the royal income and expenditure should be placed on a +different footing was general, and the fall of the Duke of Wellington's +ministry had been immediately caused by the success of a proposal that, +before fixing the new sovereign's Civil List, Parliament should refer +the matter to a committee, that inquiry might be made into every part of +it. Lord Grey's ministry were bound to act in conformity with a +resolution on which they had, as it were, ridden into office; and the +arrangement which they ultimately effected was one in which common-sense +and the royal convenience and comfort were alike consulted. That portion +of the Civil List of his predecessor which was voted by Parliament +amounted to nearly L850,000 a year; but, besides that sum, George IV. +enjoyed the income already mentioned as derived from Crown Lands, +Droits, etc., while a farther large sum was furnished by the ancient +revenue of the crown of Scotland, and another was received from Ireland. +The ministers now proposed that all these sources of income should be +handed over to the Treasury, and that the Civil List should henceforward +be fixed at L510,000, being at the same time relieved from all the +foreign and extraneous charges on it which had invidiously swelled the +gross amount, without being in any way under the control of the +sovereign, or in any way ministering to his requirements, either for +personal indulgence or for the maintenance of the state and magnificence +imposed on him by his position. + +Such a change was on every ground most desirable. It was clearly in +accordance with our parliamentary constitution that grants of money made +by the Parliament should express distinctly and unmistakably the objects +to which they were really to be applied; and that the charges of +departments connected with the government, the administration of +justice, or the foreign service of the country, should not be mixed up +with others of a wholly different character, so as to make what was, in +fact, the expenditure of the nation wear the appearance of being the +expenditure of the sovereign. Moreover, the assignment of many of the +charges to the Civil List even gave a false character to the +appointments themselves. If a sovereign was to pay ambassadors and +judges out of what seemed to be his private income, the logical +conclusion could hardly be avoided that he had a right to lower those +salaries, or even to diminish the number of those appointments. And it +may even be said that the less any real danger of such a right being so +exercised was to be apprehended, the more unadvisable was it to retain +an arrangement which in theory could be described as liable to such an +abuse. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 216: But it may be remarked that till very recently the people +out-of-doors had ceased to show any great anxiety about Reform. Two or +three years before, Lord Althorp, who, in Lord Grey's ministry, was +Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons, told +Peel that the people had become so indifferent to it, that he never +meant to bring forward the question again, and in the last seven years +only fourteen petitions had been presented to Parliament in favor of it. +In reality, such a feeling in the people would have been eminently +favorable to a calm framing of a Moderate measure; but this indifference +was soon changed into a more violent and widely diffused excitement than +there was any record of since the days of the Popish Plot; that +excitement, however, according to the confession of the historian of the +Whig ministry and the Reform Bill, himself an ardent reformer, being "no +spontaneous result of popular feeling, but being brought about by the +incessant labors of a few shrewd and industrious partisans forming a +secret, but very active and efficient, committee in London."--Roebuck's +_History of the Whig Ministry_, etc., ii., 309.] + +[Footnote 217: In 1835 the two days were reduced to one.] + +[Footnote 218: The creation of twelve peers, in the reign of Queen Anne, +to secure a majority in favor of the Peace of Utrecht.] + +[Footnote 219: "Constitutional History," iii., 331. See the whole +passage.] + +[Footnote 220: Lord John Russell had publicly described the language of +the Tory Peers in the debate on Lord Lyndhurst's amendment as "the +whisper of a faction." And many articles of most extreme violence which +appeared in the _Times_ about the same time were generally believed to +have been written (in part at least) by the Lord Chancellor, Lord +Brougham.] + +[Footnote 221: "Constitutional History of England," by Sir J.E. May, 1., +262.] + +[Footnote 222: Elizabeth enfranchised no fewer than sixty-two in the +course of her reign, "a very large proportion of them petty boroughs, +evidently under the influence of the crown or the peerage."--Hallam, +_Constitutional History_ i., 360.] + +[Footnote 223: Sir A. Alison, "History of Europe," xxiii., 55, quotes a +paragraph from the _Examiner_ newspaper, which says: "The ground, +limited as it is, which it is proposed to clear and open to the popular +influence, will suffice as the spot desired by Archimedes for the plant +of the power which must ultimately govern the whole system. Without +reform, convulsion is inevitable. Upon any reform farther reform is +inevitably consequent, and the settlement of the constitution on the +democratic basis certain."] + +[Footnote 224: Hallam, "Constitutional History," c. xvi., _in fin._] + +[Footnote 225: "Semper in republica timendum est ne plurimum valeant +plurinn."--Cicero.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Abolition of Slavery.--Abridgment of the Apprenticeship.--The East India +Company's Trade is Thrown Open.--Commencement of Ecclesiastical +Reforms.--The New Poor-law.--State of Ireland.--Agitation against +Tithes.--Coercion Bill.--Beginning of Church Reform.--Sir Robert Peel +becomes Prime-minister.--Variety of Offices held Provisionally by the +Duke of Wellington.--Sir Robert Peel Retires, and Lord Melbourne Resumes +the Government.--Sir Robert Peel Proposes a Measure of Church +Reform.--Municipal Reform.--Measures of Ecclesiastical Reform. + + +Apart from the consideration of the abstract principle, on which the +advocates of Parliamentary Reform had insisted, of the light of many +classes hitherto unrepresented to representation, they had also dwelt on +the practical advantage which might be expected to ensue from the +greater degree in which public opinion would henceforth be brought to +bear on the action of the Houses, and, by a natural consequence, on the +administrative government also. And the bill had hardly passed when this +result began to show itself, not only in transactions of domestic +legislation, but in others which affected our most remote dependencies, +both in the East and West. We have seen in a previous chapter how +Wilberforce, after twenty years of labor and anxiety, reaped the reward +of his virtuous exertions in the abolition of the slave-trade. But he +had not ventured to grapple with the institution which gave birth to +that trade, the employment of slaves in our West India Islands. Yet it +was an evil indefensible on every ground that could possibly be alleged. +It was not only a crime and an injustice, but it was an anomaly, and a +glaring inconsistency, in any British settlement. The law, as we have +seen, had been laid down as absolutely settled, that no man within the +precincts of the United Kingdom could be a slave; that, even had such +been his previous condition, the moment his foot touched English soil he +became a free man. By what process of reasoning, then, could it be +contended that his right to liberty according to English law depended on +what portion of the British dominion he was in--that what was +incompatible with his claims as a human being in Kent ceased to be so in +Jamaica? The sentiment that what was just or unjust in one place was +just or unjust in every place; that a man's right to freedom did not +depend on the country of his birth or the color of his skin, had +naturally and logically been widely diffused and fostered by the +abolition of the slave-trade. It was but a small step from admitting +that there could be no justification for making a man a slave, to +asserting that there was an equal violation of all justice in keeping +one in slavery; and this conclusion was strengthened by tales, which +were continually reaching those most interested in the subject, of +oppression and cruelty practised by the masters, or oftener by their +agents and overseers, on the unfortunate beings over whom they claimed +power and right as absolute as any owner could pretend to over any +description of property. They made so general an impression that, ten +years before the time at which we have now arrived, a society had been +formed in London whose object was the immediate extinction of slavery in +every British settlement; and Canning, then Secretary of State, had +entered warmly into the general object of the society; not, indeed, +thinking the instant abolition practicable, but inducing Parliament to +pass a body of resolutions in favor of at once improving the condition +of the slaves, as the best and necessary preparation for their entire +enfranchisement;[226] and the next year, 1824, the subject was +recommended to the attention of the Houses in the King's speech, and an +Order in Council was issued enjoining the adoption of a series of +measures conceived in the spirit of those resolutions, among which one +was evidently meant as a precursor of the slaves' entire emancipation, +since it gave the "negro who had acquired sufficient property" a title +"to purchase his own freedom and that of his wife and family." And it +was, probably, from regarding it in this light that the planters (as the +owners of estates in the West Indies were generally called) selected +that provision as the object of their most vehement remonstrances. But, +though they were not so open in their remonstrances against the other +clauses of the order, they did worse, they disregarded them; and the +stories of the ill-treatment of the slaves were neither less frequent +nor less revolting than before. + +Fresh Orders in Council, avowedly designed as the stepping-stones to +eventual emancipation, were issued; and one which reached the West +Indies at the end of 1831 was, unhappily, so misconstrued by the slaves +in Jamaica, who regarded it as recognizing their right to instant +liberation, that, when their masters refused to treat it as doing so, +they broke out into a formidable insurrection, which was not quelled +without great loss of life and destruction of property. The planters +were panic-stricken; many of them, indeed, were almost ruined. The +colonial Legislatures,[227] which had been established in the greater +part of the islands, addressed the ministers with strong protests +against the last Order in Council; and the mischief which had +confessedly been already done, and the farther mischief which was not +unreasonably dreaded, were so great that the cabinet consented to +suspend it for a while; and the House of Commons made a practical +confession that the planters were entitled to sympathy as well as the +slaves, by voting nearly a million of money to compensate those of +Jamaica for their recent losses. + +But out-of-doors the feeling rather was that the insurrection had been +caused, not by the unreasoning though natural impatience for freedom +entertained by the negro--whom Canning had truly described as +"possessing the form and strength of a man, but the intellect of a +child"--but by the slackness and supineness of the local Legislature, +too much under the influence of the timid clamors of the planters to +listen to the voice of justice and humanity, which demanded to the full +as emphatically, if somewhat less vociferously, the immediate +deliverance of the slave. The object, however, thus desired was not so +free from difficulty as it seemed to those zealous but irresponsible +advocates of universal freedom; for, in the first place the slaves were +not the only persons to be considered; the planters also had an +undoubted right to have their interests protected, since, however +illegitimate property in human beings might be, it was certain that its +existence in that portion of the King's dominions had been recognized by +Parliament and courts of justice for many generations, and that suddenly +to withdraw a sanction and abrogate a custom thus established, and, as +it might fairly be believed, almost legalized by time, would be not only +ruinous to the planters, who would have no other means of cultivating +their lands, but, as being ruinous to them, would also manifestly be +most unjust. Even in the interests of the slaves themselves, instant +emancipation before they were fit for it might prove to them a very +doubtful blessing. The state, too, and the general interests of the +kingdom had to be considered, for the shipping employed in the West +India trade, and the revenue derived by the Imperial Exchequer from it, +were both of great amount. It was a very complicated question, and +required very cautious handling; but it was plain that the people were +greatly excited on the subject. One or two of the ministers themselves +had deeply pledged themselves to their constituents to labor for the +cessation of slavery; and eventually, though by no means blind to the +difficulty of arriving at a thoroughly safe solution of the question, +the ministry decided that "delay was more perilous than decision," and +they brought in a bill, in which they endeavored to combine the three +great objects--justice to the slave, by conferring on him that freedom +to which he, in common with all mankind, had an inviolable right; +justice to the slave-owner, by compensating him fairly for the loss of +what (however originally vicious the practice may have been) he was +entitled by long usage and more than one positive law to regard as +property; and a farther justice to the slave, that justice which +consists in being careful so to confer benefits as to do the greatest +amount of good to the recipient. The first object was attained by +enacting that those who had hitherto been slaves should be free; the +third was arrived at by making the freedom thus given, not +instantaneous, but by leading them to it, and preparing them for its +proper and useful enjoyment, by a system of apprenticeship. The slave +was to be apprenticed to his master for seven years, receiving, partly +in money and partly in kind, a certain fair amount of wages, and having +also one-fourth of his time absolutely at his own disposal. And the +second was secured by granting the planters the magnificent sum of +twenty millions of money, as compensation for the injury done to them; +or, in other words, as purchase-money for the property they were +compelled to surrender. The apprenticeship system did not wholly +succeed. The slaves were not sufficiently enlightened to appreciate the +character of the new arrangement; and, as the light in which it appeared +to them was rather that of deferring than of securing their +emancipation, it made them impatient rather than thankful. In the +majority of cases it proved difficult to induce them to work even +three-fourths of their time, and eventually the planters themselves were +driven to the conclusion that it was best to abridge the period of +apprenticeship. By the act of the colonial Legislatures themselves it +was shortened by two years, and the emancipation was completed on the +1st of August, 1838. + +Still, though on this single point the success of the scheme did not +fully correspond to the hopes of those who had framed it, it was one +which did great honor to their ingenuity as well as to their +philanthropy (Lord Stanley, as Colonial Secretary, being the minister to +whose department it belonged). And the nation itself is fairly entitled +to no small credit for its cordial, ungrudging approval of a measure of +such unprecedented liberality. Indeed, the credit deserved was frankly +allowed it by foreign countries. To quote the language of an eloquent +historian of the period, "the generous acquiescence of the people under +this prodigious increase of their burdens has caused the moralists of +other nations to declare that the British Act of Emancipation stands +alone for moral grandeur in the history of the world."[228] And, in +respect of the personal liberty of the subject, it may be said to have +completed the British constitution; establishing the glorious principle, +that freedom is not limited to one part of our sovereign's dominions, to +these islands alone, but that in no part of the world in which the +British flag is erected can any sort of slavery exist for a single +moment. + +The abolition of the political authority of the East India Company, +which took place some years after the time at which we have arrived, and +which will be mentioned in a subsequent chapter, would make it +unnecessary to mention the renewal of its charter, which took place at +this time, were it not that the force of public opinion again made +itself felt in some important limitations of its previous rights. The +monopoly of the trade with China which the Company had hitherto enjoyed +was resented as an injustice by the great body of our merchants and +ship-owners, who contended that all British subjects had an equal right +to share in advantages which had been won by British arms. The +government and Parliament adopted their view, and the renewed charter +extinguished not only that monopoly, but even the Company's exclusive +trading privileges in India itself, though these, like the rights of the +West India planters over their slaves, were purchased of it by an +annuity for forty years, which was estimated as an equivalent for the +loss of profit which must result to the proprietors of the Company's +stock from the sudden alteration. It cannot be said that any +constitutional principle was involved in what was merely a commercial +regulation, or relaxation of such regulations. Yet it may not be thought +inopportune to mention the transaction thus briefly, as one important +step toward the establishment of free-trade, which, at the end of fifty +years from the time when Pitt first laid the foundation of it, was +gradually forcing itself on all our statesmen, as the only sound +principle of commercial intercourse between nations. The laborious +historian of Europe during these years finds fault with the arrangements +now made, but only on the ground that they did not go far enough in that +direction; that, while "everything was done to promote the commercial +and manufacturing interests of England, nothing was done for those of +Hindostan;"[229] that, "while English cotton goods were admitted for a +nominal duty into India, there was no corresponding advantage thought of +to the industry of India in supplying the markets of the country." The +objection was not unfounded; but the system of which it complains was +too one-sided to be long maintained, and in less than ten years a great +financial reform had swept away the great mass of import duties, and so +far had placed the Indian manufacturer on the same level with his +fellow-subjects of English blood. + +The disturbances which agitated the first years of the reign of William +IV. were not caused solely by the excitement attendant on the passing of +the Reform Bill. There had been extensive agricultural distress in +England, which had shown itself in an outbreak of new crimes, the +burning of ricks in the farm-yards, and the destruction of machinery, to +which the peasantry were persuaded by designing demagogues to attribute +the scarcity of employment. But statesmen of both parties were agreed in +believing that a great deal of the poverty which, especially in the +agricultural counties, had become the normal condition of the laborer, +might be ascribed to the pernicious working of the Poor-law, which +subsisted with scarcely any alteration as it had been originally enacted +in the reign of Elizabeth. There was even reason to doubt whether the +slight changes which had been made had been improvements. If they had +been in the direction of increased liberality to the poor man who needed +parish relief, and had to some extent lessened his discomforts, they had +at the same time tended greatly to demoralize both him and his employer, +by introducing a system of out-door relief, which, coupled with the +practice of regarding such relief as a legitimate addition to wages, led +the former to feel no shame at underpaying his workmen, and the workman +to feel no shame at depending on the parish for a portion of his means +of subsistence. It was not to be wondered at that under such a system +the poor-rates gradually rose to the prodigious amount of seven millions +and a quarter of money; or that the rate-payers began to clamor against +such a state of things, as imposing on them a burden beyond their power +to bear. It was evident that it was an evil which imperatively demanded +a remedy; and accordingly one of the first objects to which Lord Grey's +Cabinet turned its attention after the completion of the Reform Bill was +the amendment of the Poor-law. + +The scheme which in the spring of 1834 they introduced to Parliament was +the first instance of the adoption in this country of that system of +centralization which has long been a favorite with some of the +Continental statesmen, but which is not equally in harmony with the +instincts of our people, generally more attached to local government. +But, if ever centralization could commend itself to the English mind, it +might well be when a new law and a new principle of action were to be +introduced, in the carrying out of which uniformity of practice over the +whole kingdom was especially desirable. Accordingly, the government bill +proposed the establishment of a Board of Commissioners to whom the +general administration of the Poor-laws over the whole kingdom was to be +intrusted. They were to have power to make rules and regulations as to +the mode or modes of relief to be given, subject to the approval of the +Secretary of State, that thus the establishment of one uniform system +over the whole country might be secured. Power was to be given to unite +several parishes into one union, and to erect large workhouses for the +several parishes thus massed together;[230] and every union was to be +under the management of boards of guardians, elected by the rate-payers +of the different parishes, with the addition of the resident magistrates +as ex officio guardians. Lord Althorp, who introduced the bill, admitted +that such extensive powers as he proposed to confer on the Board of +Commissioners were "an anomaly in the constitution," but pleaded the +necessity of the case as their justification, since it was indispensable +to vest a discretionary power somewhere, and the government was too +fully occupied with the business of the nation, while the local +magistrates would be destitute of the sources of information requisite +to form a proper opinion on the subject. The commissioners alone, being +exclusively devoted to the subject, and being alone in possession of all +the information that could be collected, were really the only body who +could fairly be trusted to form correct opinions on it.[231] The fact of +the creation of such a board being "an anomaly," or, as it might rather +have been called, a novelty in the constitution, does not seem an +insuperable objection, unless it were also inconsistent or at variance +with the fundamental principles of the constitution, and that can hardly +be alleged in this instance. It is true that local management, whether +its range were wide or narrow, whether covering the business of a county +or limited to a single parish, had been the general rule; but, like +every other arrangement for the conduct of affairs of any kind, that +local management was inherently subject to the supreme authority and +interference of Parliament. Nor, as the maintenance of this +Parliamentary authority, as the supreme referee in the last resource, +was provided for by the subordination of the commissioners for the +approval of their regulations to the Secretary of State, does it seem +that the arrangement now proposed and adopted can be said to have been +inconsistent with constitutional principle. And the necessity for some +change of that nature was clearly made out by the abuses which, +undeniably, had been suffered to grow up under the old system. + +If the habitual condition of the Irish peasant were to be taken into +account, it would be correct to say that there was less distress at this +time in England than in Ireland; but there was still greater discontent, +and infinitely more of dangerous disturbance. Catholic Emancipation had +stimulated the agitators, not pacified them; they regarded it as a +triumph over the English government; and, being so, as at once a reason +for demanding, and a means of extorting, farther concessions. But this +notion of theirs, when inculcated on the peasantry, bore terrible fruit, +in such an increase of crime as had probably never been known in any +country in the world. In the provinces of Leinster, Munster, and +Connaught murders, deeds of arson, and rapine were of far more than +daily occurrence.[232] Lord Althorp asserted in the House of Commons +that more lives had been sacrificed in Ireland by murder in the +preceding year than in one of Wellington's victories. And what was, if +possible, a still worse symptom of the disposition of the common people, +was exhibited in the impossibility of bringing the criminals, even when +well known, to justice. Jurors held back from the assizes, witnesses who +had seen murders committed refused to give evidence. The Roman Catholic +prelates, and the higher class of the Roman Catholic clergy--most of +whom, greatly to their credit, exerted themselves to check this fearful +progress of wickedness--found their denunciations unheeded; while +O'Connell, in his place in the House of Commons, used language which to +an ignorant and ferocious peasantry looked almost like a justification +of it, affirming it to be caused wholly by the "unjust and ruinous +policy of the government" in refusing to abolish tithes. It was not the +first time that the existence of tithe had been alleged as an Irish +grievance. In the three southern provinces by far the greater portion of +the tenantry were Roman Catholics, and they had long been complaining +that they were forced to pay for the support of the Protestant clergyman +of their parish, whose ministrations they could not attend, as well as +for the maintenance of their own priest, whose livelihood depended on +their contributions. According to strict political economy, there could +be no doubt that the burden of the tithe fell, not on the tenant, but on +the landlord, in the calculation of whose rent the amount of tithe to +which each holding was liable was always taken into consideration; and +that being the true doctrine, it was equally plain that in reality the +Protestant clergy were paid, not by Roman Catholics, but by Protestants, +since it was not disputed that by far the greater part of the +land-owners in every province were Protestants.[233] But an ignorant +peasant is no student of political economy or of logic; and the fact +that the payment of the tithe passed through his hands was in his eyes, +an incontrovertible proof that it came out of his pocket. The discontent +had gradually begotten an organized resistance to the payment, and the +mischief of allowing the continuance of such a state of feeling and +conduct, which was manifestly likely to impair the respect for all law, +made such an impression on the government that, in the royal speech with +which he opened the session of 1832, the King recommended the whole +subject to the consideration of Parliament, urging the Houses to inquire +"whether it might not be possible to effect improvements in the laws +respecting this subject." + +In compliance with this recommendation, committees were appointed by +both Houses; and the result of their investigations was a recommendation +that a new arrangement should be made, under which the tithe should be +commuted to a rent-charge. Accordingly, the next year the ministers +proceeded to give effect to this recommendation. But they reasonably +judged that an alteration of a particular law in compliance with the +clamor raised against it would be a concession pregnant with mischief to +the principle of all government, if it were not accompanied, or rather +preceded, by a vindication of the majesty of all law; and therefore the +first measure affecting Ireland, which they brought in in 1833, was a +"Coercion Bill," which empowered the Lord-lieutenant not only to +suppress the meetings of any assembly or association which he might +consider dangerous to the public peace, but also to declare by +proclamation any district in which tumults and outrages were rife to be +"in a disturbed state;" and in districts thus proclaimed no person was +to be permitted to be absent from his house from an hour after sunset to +sunrise. Houses might be searched for arms, martial law was to be +established, and courts-martial held for the trial of all offences +except felonies; and the _Habeas Corpus_ Act was suspended for three +months. O'Connell and his party protested with great vehemence against +such an enactment, as a violation of every right secured to the subject +by the constitution. And a bill which suspended the ordinary courts of +justice must be admitted to have been incompatible with the constitution +as commonly understood and enjoyed. But if the measure thus proposed was +extraordinary, the state of affairs which had led to its proposal was so +also in a far greater degree. The records of no nation had ever +presented such a fearful catalogue of crimes as was now laid before the +Parliament, and at such a crisis the statesmen to whom the tranquillity +of the country and the safety of the citizens were intrusted were +undoubtedly called upon to go back from the letter of the constitution +to that which is the primary object of every constitution--the safety of +those who live under it. _Salus populi suprema lex_. And the argument of +necessity was regarded, and rightly regarded, by both Houses of +Parliament as a sufficient and complete justification of even so +exceptional an enactment. + +And concurrently with this enactment, which, however indispensable for +the repression of crime, no one could deny to be severe, the ministers +endeavored also to remove the causes of discontent by a large measure of +Church reform, not confining their aim to settling the tithe question, +but dealing with the whole question of the Irish Church in such a way as +to lay down, as an undoubted principle of the constitution, the doctrine +that the Church existed for the benefit of the nation; that its property +was bestowed on it for the same object; and that, consequently, the +nation, or in other words the Parliament, had a perfect right to deal +with its property and endowments of all kinds, always keeping the same +end in view, the general advantage of the whole nation. Proceeding on +these maxims, they introduced a Church Reform Bill, in which, perhaps, +the most remarkable circumstance of all was, that the evil which had +been the original cause of their taking up the subject at all was the +last thing settled, not, indeed, being finally arranged for four years; +while the principal detail in the way of reform which was completed in +this first session was one which, however reasonable, had hitherto +received but little attention, and had certainly provoked no great +outcry. It could not be denied that the Episcopal Establishment in +Ireland was out of all proportion to the extent of the country and the +number of the Protestant population, or of the parishes. The entire +population in communion with the Church fell short of 900,000. The +number of parishes scarcely exceeded 1400. But over this comparatively +scanty flock were set no fewer than eighteen bishops and four +archbishops; while England, with 12,000 parishes, was contented with +twenty-four bishops and two archbishops. It was proposed to consolidate +these bishoprics into ten, the archbishoprics into two, a reduction +which could hardly fail to commend itself to all. But with this +reduction was combined a variety of other details relating to the +Episcopal revenues, to the right of the bishops to grant leases, and +other matters of finance, which the ministers proposed so to remodel as +to create a very large fund to be at the disposal of the state. On this +point the greater part of the ministerial scheme was wrecked for the +time. They succeeded in carrying that part of it which consolidated the +bishoprics, and in inducing the House of Commons to grant, first as a +loan, which was originally turned into a gift, a million of money to be +divided among the incumbents of the different parishes, who were reduced +to the greatest distress by the inability to procure payment of their +tithes, the arrears of which amounted to a far larger sum. + +But the assertion that any surplus fund arising from redistribution of +the Episcopal revenues ought to belong to the state, not only called +forth a vigorous resistance from the whole of the Tory party at its +first promulgation, but, when the subject was revived the next year, and +one of the supporters of the ministry, Mr. Ward, proposed a resolution +that any such surplus might be legitimately applied to secular purposes, +it produced a schism in the ministry itself. The resolution was +cordially accepted by Lord John Russell, but was so offensive to four of +his colleagues, Mr. Stanley and Sir James Graham being among the number, +that they at once resigned their offices. The breach thus made was not +easily healed; and before the end of the session other dissensions of a +more vexatious and mortifying character led to the retirement of the +Prime-minister himself. All attempts to deal with the tithe question +failed for the time, four more years elapsing before it was finally +settled. But, curtailed as it was, the bill of 1833 still deserves to be +remembered as a landmark in constitutional legislation, since it +afforded the first instance of Parliament affirming a right to deal with +ecclesiastical dignities and endowments, thus setting a precedent which, +in the next reign, was followed with regard to the Church of England. + +Lord Melbourne succeeded Lord Grey at the Treasury; but every one saw +that the ministry was greatly weakened. The King, too, had become +greatly dissatisfied both with their general policy, especially in +regard to the Irish Church--which he took an opportunity of assuring the +Irish bishops he was unalterably resolved to uphold--and also with the +language and conduct of one or two individual ministers, to which it is +not necessary to refer more particularly; and when, on the death of Lord +Spencer, father of Lord Althorp, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which +took place in November, 1834, it became necessary for Lord Melbourne to +propose to him a re-arrangement of some of the cabinet offices, he at +once dismissed the whole body of the ministers. It was a somewhat +singular step to take, for they had not been defeated in Parliament, and +he did not himself allege any special dissatisfaction with anything +which they had yet done, though he did apprehend that some of them would +press upon him measures disadvantageous to "the clergy of the Church of +England in Ireland," to which he had an insuperable objection; and, +moreover, that the subject would cause fresh divisions in the ministry, +and the resignation of one or two more of its most important members. He +had, indeed, six months before, given a practical proof of his distrust +of the ability of Lord Melbourne and the colleagues who remained to him +to carry on the government of the kingdom satisfactorily, by desiring +the new Prime-minister to enter into communication with the leaders of +the Opposition, "to endeavor at this crisis to prevail upon them to +afford their aid and co-operation toward the formation of an +administration upon an enlarged basis, combining the services of the +most able and efficient members of each" party.[234] Nor had he +relinquished the idea of bringing about such a coalition, till he +learned that both Lord Melbourne and Sir Robert Peel considered the +differences which divided them to be too deeply founded on principle to +render their union in one administration either beneficial to the state +or creditable to themselves. And it may be said that the letter in which +Lord Melbourne had in November announced to his Majesty the death of +Lord Spencer, and the necessity for new arrangements which that event +had created, by the expression that "in these new and altered +circumstances it was for his Majesty to consider whether it were his +pleasure to authorize Viscount Melbourne to attempt to make such fresh +arrangements as might enable his present servants to continue to conduct +the affairs of the country, or whether his Majesty deemed it advisable +to adopt any other course," and that "Lord Melbourne earnestly entreated +that no personal consideration for him might prevent his Majesty from +taking any measures or seeking any other advice which he might think +more likely to conduce to his service and to the advantage of the +country," did not only contemplate, but to a certain degree even +suggested, the possibility of his Majesty's preferring to have recourse +to fresh advisers. + +The King's subsequent acts and their result, however, certainly took the +kingdom by surprise. He applied to the Duke of Wellington to undertake +the formation of a new ministry; and the Duke, explaining to the King +that "the difficulty of the task consisted in the state of the House of +Commons, earnestly recommended him to choose a minister in the House of +Commons," and named Sir Robert Peel as the fittest object for his +Majesty's choice. Sir Robert was in Italy at the time; but, on receiving +the royal summons, he at once hastened to England, the Duke of +Wellington in the mean time accepting the offices of First Lord of the +Treasury and Secretary of State, as a provisional arrangement, till he +should arrive in London. + +Sir Robert reached England early in December; and though, if "he had +been consulted beforehand, he would have been inclined to dissuade the +dismissal of the last ministry as premature and impolitic," he did not +consider it compatible "with his sense of duty" to decline the charge +which the King laid upon him, and at once accepted the office of +Prime-minister, being fully aware that by so doing he "became +technically, if not morally, responsible for the dissolution of the +preceding government, though he had not had the remotest concern in +it."[235] In the formation of his ministry he so far endeavored to carry +out the views which the King had suggested to Lord Melbourne in the +summer as to invite the co-operation of Mr. Stanley (who, by the death +of his grandfather, had recently become Lord Stanley) and Sir J. Graham, +who, as has been mentioned before, had retired from Lord Grey's cabinet. +A new name, that of "Conservative," had recently been invented for the +more moderate section of the old Tory party; and it was one which, +though Lord Grey had taunted them with it, as betraying a sense of shame +at adhering to their old colors, Peel was inclined to adopt for himself, +as characteristic of his feelings and future objects; and perhaps he +thought it might help to smooth the way for a junction with him of those +who would flinch from proclaiming so decided a change in their opinions +as would be implied by their becoming colleagues of one who still +cherished the name of Tory. But they declined his offers; and +consequently he was forced to select his cabinet entirely from the party +of anti-Reformers. He dissolved Parliament, a step as to which it seemed +to him that the universal expectations of, and even preparation for, a +dissolution, left him practically scarcely any option;[236] but he soon +found, as, indeed, he had feared he should find, the attempt to +establish a Conservative government premature. The party of the late +ministry, following the example set by Mr. Fox in 1784 with better +fortune, divided against him in the House of Commons on every occasion, +defeating him in every division; and at the beginning of April he +retired, and Lord Melbourne and his former colleagues resumed their +offices with very little change. + +They had, as was natural, not been contented with opposing the +Conservative ministry in its general policy, but in both Houses they had +attacked it with great energy. They had begun the battle in both Houses +in the debate on the address, in which they selected three points in the +recent transactions for special condemnation, affirming that in every +one of them the royal prerogative had been unconstitutionally +exercised--the dismissal of the late ministry, the dissolution of +Parliament, and the appointment of the Duke of Wellington to a variety +of offices. In the House of Commons the attack was led by Lord Morpeth +and Lord John Russell; in the House of Lords by Lord Melbourne himself. +It was urged that, though the prerogative of the sovereign to dismiss +his ministers was undoubted and inalienable, yet the Houses had a clear +right to sit in judgment on any particular exercise of it; and that the +circumstances of the late ministry having been but recently formed, of +its possessing in a conspicuous degree the confidence of the great +majority of the House of Commons, and of its being occupied at the +moment of its dismissal with matters of high national concern, justified +the House in calling on the new ministers to show valid reasons for its +sudden dismissal. As to the dissolution, it was asked what misdemeanor +the late House of Commons had committed? No difference had occurred +between it and the other House of Parliament. It had passed no hostile +vote against any administration. It had been in existence but a very +short time. All these circumstances, they affirmed, made it reasonable +for the Houses to express to his Majesty their disapprobation of the +dissolution. Lord Morpeth argued, moreover, that the right of the House +of Commons to inquire into such an exercise of the royal prerogative was +proved by the example of Mr. Pitt, who, in 1784, had introduced into the +speech from the throne a paragraph inviting Parliament to approve of the +recent dissolution; and what Parliament could be asked to approve of, it +manifestly had an equal right to censure. But the most vehement of the +censures of the Opposition were directed against what Lord Morpeth +called "the most unseemly huddling of offices in the single person of +the Duke of Wellington; an unconstitutional concentration of +responsibility and power, at which there was hardly an old Whig of the +Rockingham school whose hair did not stand on end." He admitted that in +the present instance the arrangement had only been provisional and +temporary, and that "no harm had been done;" but, he asked, "what harm +might not have been done? If the country had been suddenly obliged to go +to war, who would have been responsible for the Foreign Department? If +an insurrection of the negroes had occurred, who was responsible for the +Colonial Office? If in Ireland any tithe dispute had arisen, who was +responsible as Home-secretary?" And Lord Melbourne, though a speaker +generally remarkable for moderation, on this subject went much farther; +and, after urging that, "if one person held the situation of First Lord +of the Treasury, and also that of Secretary of State for the Home +Department, it would not only place in his hands without any control the +appointment to every great office in the state, but a person so situated +would also have the pecuniary resources of the state at his disposal +without check or investigation," he proceeded to assert that "an +intention to exercise those offices would amount to a treasonable +misdemeanor." He did not, indeed, go so far as his late +Attorney-general, Sir J. Campbell, who, in vexation at his loss of +office, had even threatened the Duke with impeachment; but, though he +admitted that the Duke had been free from the guilty intention of +exercising the authority of these offices, he suggested that "the Lords +ought to pass some resolution calculated to prevent so great a breach of +the constitution from being drawn into a precedent." + +On the first point thus raised, for the dismissal of the late ministry +without any such cause as is usually furnished by an adverse vote of one +of the Houses of Parliament, Peel frankly admitted that his acceptance +of office rendered him constitutionally responsible, though, as he also +said, it was notorious that in fact he had, and could have had, no +previous knowledge of it; but he denied that any constitutional question +whatever was involved in it, since the King's right was denied by no +one; and he could, therefore, only consent to discuss it as a question +of policy and expediency. And, looking at it in this light, he regarded +his defence as easy and complete. He contended that the events of the +past year, the resignation of several of the subordinate ministers, and +finally of Lord Grey himself, and the proposal which had been made to +him (Peel) and several of his friends to coalesce with Lord Melbourne, +rendered the act by which the late government had been removed perfectly +justifiable on the part both of the King and of himself; that the King +was justified in thinking a wholly fresh arrangement preferable to a +re-arrangement of Lord Melbourne's cabinet; and he himself in obeying +his sovereign's commands to form a new administration. + +The wisdom and propriety of the dissolution, too, could only be examined +as a question of expediency; but in this instance every consideration +not only recommended but compelled it. "When he undertook the arduous +duties now imposed upon him, he did determine that he would leave no +constitutional effort untried to enable him satisfactorily to discharge +the trust imposed in him. He did fear that if he had met the late +Parliament he should have been obstructed in his course, and obstructed +in a manner and at a season which might have precluded an appeal to the +people. It was the constant boast of the late government that the late +Parliament had unbounded confidence in them. And, if that Parliament +was, as had been constantly asserted, relied upon as ready to condemn +him without a hearing, could any one be surprised at his appeal to the +judgment of another, a higher and a fairer tribunal, the public sense of +the people?" Precedent, too, was in his favor on this point, since, +"whenever an extensive change of government had occurred, a dissolution +of Parliament had followed;" and he referred to the year 1784, and to +1806, when the administration of which Lord Grey was the leading member +at once dissolved the existing Parliament on coming into office; though +he believed "the present to be the first occasion on which a House of +Commons had been invited to express its dissatisfaction at the exercise +of the prerogative of dissolution." + +To the strictures of Lord Melbourne and Lord Morpeth on the Duke of +Wellington's temporary assumption of a combination of offices, it was +replied by Sir Robert and the Duke that, though there might be +inconvenience from the assumption of all those powers by one individual, +it was so far from being unconstitutional, that it was a common practice +for the Secretary for one department to act for another during intervals +of recreation, or periods of ill-health; that there was ample precedent +for such a proceeding. In the last week of the life of Queen Anne, the +Duke of Shrewsbury had united three of the greatest posts of the +kingdom, those of Lord Treasurer, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord-lieutenant +of Ireland, with the sanction of that great constitutional lawyer, Lord +Somers. And in 1827 Mr. Canning had retained the seals of the Foreign +Office for some weeks after his appointment as First Lord of the +Treasury. Moreover, there was actually a law which provided that when +the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer is vacant the seals of that +office shall be delivered to the Chief-justice; and under this rule, in +the latter part of the reign of George II., Chief-justice Lord Mansfield +had continued finance-minister for above three months. And, as to the +practical result of what had been done in the present instance, the Duke +affirmed, what, indeed, was universally admitted, that the arrangement +had from the first been understood to be merely temporary; that no +inconvenience had resulted from it; indeed, that "not a single act had +been done in any one of the offices which had not been essentially +necessary for the service of the country." + +The first two points on which the ministry was assailed it seems +superfluous to examine, since it is clear that the position taken up by +Sir Robert Peel is impregnable: that, on every view of the principles +and practice of the constitution, there was no doubt of the right of the +sovereign to dismiss his ministers or to dissolve the Parliament at his +pleasure; and that those acts can only be judged of by a consideration +of their expediency. Inexpedient, indeed, the dismissal of the preceding +ministry is generally considered to have been, even in the interest of +the Conservatives themselves. But inexpedient the dissolution can hardly +be pronounced to have been, since, though the new election failed to +give them a majority in the House of Commons, it beyond all doubt +greatly strengthened their minority. On the other hand, though it cannot +be denied that the House of Commons has a perfect right to express its +disapproval of any or every act of the minister, it is not so clear that +Lord Morpeth's invitation to it to express its dissatisfaction with this +particular act of dissolution was, on general principles, expedient or +safe; since such a vote is making a perilous approach to claiming for +the House the right of being asked for its consent to its own +dissolution, a claim the admission of which had been one of the most +fatal, if not the most fatal, of all the concessions of Charles I. + +As to the Duke of Wellington's assumption of a variety of offices, it is +probable that when he first proposed to the King to confer them on him, +he anticipated no objection whatever from any quarter, since he had so +little idea of there being any impropriety in holding two offices, were +they ever so apparently incongruous, if his Majesty should have directed +him to do so, that seven years before, when he became Prime-minister, he +had at first designed permanently to retain the command of the army in +conjunction with the Treasury, and had only been induced to abandon the +intention by the urgent remonstrance of Sir Robert Peel; and, +constitutionally, there does not seem to be any limitation of the +sovereign's power to confer offices, to unite or to divide them. Indeed, +the different Secretary-ships of State seem to owe their existence +entirely to his will, and not to any act of Parliament. He can diminish +the number, if he should think fit, as he did in 1782, when, on the +termination of the American war, he forbore to appoint a successor to +Lord George Germaine, in Lord Rockingham's administration; or he can +increase the numbers, as he did in 1794, when he revived the third +Secretaryship, which he had suppressed twelve years before, without any +act of Parliament being passed to direct either the suspension or the +revival. He can even leave the most important offices vacant, and +intrust the performance of their duties to a commission, as was done in +this very year 1835, when the Great Seal was put in commission, and the +duties, for above two years, were performed by commissioners, who had +other duties also to discharge; and these instances may, perhaps, +warrant the conclusion that the distribution of the different posts in +what is generally known as the cabinet is dictated by considerations of +what is practicable and expedient rather than by any positive and +invariable rule or principle. + +Yet it does not follow that, because the constitution was not violated +or endangered by such an arrangement, the leaders of the Opposition did +other than their duty in calling attention to it. Unquestionably, it is +historically true that the liberties of the people owe their +preservation, growth, and vigor to the jealous watchfulness to check the +first and slightest appearance of any attempt to encroach upon them, +which has been constantly exercised from the very earliest times by an +almost unbroken series of fearless and independent patriots. And in this +instance the very novelty of such an arrangement as had taken place did +of itself make criticism a duty; though it may also be thought that the +critics acted wisely in contenting themselves with calling notice to it, +and abstaining from asking Parliament to pronounce a formal judgment on +it, since any express censure would have been unwarranted either by the +facts of the case or by any inference to be drawn from previous usage, +while an approval of it would wear the appearance not only of +sanctioning, but even of inviting a repetition of an arrangement which, +if ever attempted to be carried out in actual practice, must tend to +grave inconvenience, if not to discredit. + +Lord Melbourne resumed office, and, being strengthened by the manifest +inability of the opposite party to command the confidence of the House +of Commons, began to apply himself with vigor to the carrying out of +several measures of internal reform, some of which involved not only the +property but the long-established rights of very considerable bodies, +and, as so doing, have an importance in a constitutional point of view, +besides that arising from their immediate effects. Peel had been equally +alive to the desirableness, so cogent as almost to amount to a moral +necessity, of introducing reforms into more than one old institution, +such as should bring them more into harmony with the spirit of the age, +remodelling or terminating some arrangements which were manifest abuses, +and others which, though, if dispassionately examined and properly +understood, they, perhaps, were not really grievances, yet in their +operation caused such discontent and heart-burnings that they were as +mischievous as many others far more indefensible in theory. And, +short-lived as his administration had been, he had found time to frame +and introduce an extensive measure of Church reform, not only dealing +with the question of tithes, the levy and collection of which in some of +their details had long been made subjects of bitter complaints by the +farmers, but including also provision for the creation of two new +bishoprics, those of Ripon and Manchester. No part of his measure was +more imperatively called for by the present circumstances of the nation, +or of greater importance in its future operation. There had been no +increase in the number of bishops since the reign of Elizabeth; but +since her time not only had the population of the entire kingdom been +quadrupled, but some districts which had then been very scantily peopled +had become exceedingly populous. These districts had hitherto been +almost destitute of Episcopal supervision, which now was thus to be +supplied to them. But the new legislation did more. It might be expected +that the growth of the population would continue, and would in time +require a farther and corresponding increase of the Episcopate; and the +erection of these new dioceses was, therefore, not only the supplying of +a present want, but the foundation of a system for increasing the +efficiency of the Church which should be capable of gradual progressive +expansion, as the growth of the population in various districts might be +found to require additional facilities for supervision. And the judgment +with which the new arrangement met the requirements of the community may +be regarded as proved by the circumstance that now, after the lapse of +nearly half a century, it is maintained in active operation, and is +admitted by all parties not only to be of the greatest practical +benefit, but also to have a moral effect scarcely less valuable in the +degree in which it has stimulated the application of private munificence +to the great work of Church extension. + +But before Lord Grey quitted office his government had also called the +attention of Parliament to the necessity of a large municipal reform, +which, indeed, it seemed to them that the Reform Bill had bound them, in +all consistency, to introduce. In the speech with which the King had +closed the session of 1833, he had informed the Houses that he had +"directed commissions to be issued for investigating the state of the +municipal corporations throughout the United Kingdom, the result of +whose inquiries would enable them to mature some measure which might +seem best fitted to place the internal government of corporate cities +and towns upon a solid foundation in respect of their finances, their +judicature, and their police." He reminded them that they had recently +passed acts "for giving constitutions upon sound principles to the royal +and parliamentary boroughs of Scotland," and warned them that "their +attention would hereafter be called to the expediency of extending +similar advantages to the unincorporated towns in England which had now +acquired the right of returning members to Parliament." The commission +of which his Majesty thus spoke had now presented its report, strongly +condemnatory of the existing system in almost every point of view; of +the constitution and mode of election of the existing corporations, and +of their government of the towns over which they presided. It declared +that "even where they existed in their least imperfect form, and were +most rightfully administered, they were inadequate to the wants of the +present state of society." But they charged them also with positive +offences of no venial kind. "They had perverted their powers to +political ends, sacrificing local interests to party purposes. They had +diverted from their legitimate use revenues which ought to have been +applied for the public advantage, wasting them in many instances for the +benefit of individuals; sometimes even employing for purposes of +corruption funds originally intended for charitable uses." And they +asserted that this too common misconduct of these bodies had engendered +"among a great majority of the inhabitants of the incorporated towns a +general and just dissatisfaction with their municipal institutions, a +distrust of the self-elected municipal councils, and of the municipal +magistracy, tainting with suspicion the local administration of +justice." And therefore they "felt it their duty to represent to his +Majesty that the existing municipal corporations of England and Wales +neither possessed nor deserved the confidence and respect of his +Majesty's subjects; and that a thorough reform must be effected before +they could become what they ought to be, useful and efficient +instruments of local government." + +It would be superfluous here to repeat the story of the rise of the +boroughs, whose gradual acquisition of charters, with privileges and +powers of various degrees, has been sufficiently investigated by +Hallam.[237] What the Parliament had now to deal with was the way in +which the system worked in the nineteenth century; and here it must be +confessed that the report of the commissioners, severe as it was, did in +no degree exaggerate the prevailing evils. The corporations had +gradually become self-elected oligarchies of the worst kind. It must be +admitted that, in perverting their authority to political purposes, they +might plead the excuse that they were but following the example set them +by the ministers of William III., who introduced into their bill for +restoring the corporations which James II. had suppressed clauses +manifestly intended to preserve the ascendency of the Whig party, "by +keeping the Church or Tory faction out of"[238] them. But no such +palliation (if, indeed, that had any right to be called a palliation) +could be alleged for their abuse of the trusts committed to them; abuse +which, if committed by single individuals, would have been branded, and +perhaps punished, as malversation and fraud of the deepest dye. A +sufficient specimen of the kind and extent of their misdeeds in one +branch of their duties was afforded by a single paragraph of Lord John +Russell's speech, in which he affirmed that, in some of the reports of +their management of charitable estates committed to their care, it was +proved that "the property, instead of being employed for the general +benefit of the town, had been consumed for the partial benefit of a few +individuals, and not unfrequently in the feastings and entertainments in +which the mayor and other corporators had been in the habit of +indulging. In some not very large boroughs these expenses had amounted +to L500 and L600 a year; and the enjoyment had been confined to freemen +of only one party." And the perpetuity of this mismanagement was in most +instances secured by the members of the corporation themselves electing +their new colleagues on the occasion of any vacancy. + +To put an end to this discreditable state of affairs, the government had +prepared a very sweeping scheme of reform, though that it was not too +sweeping was proved by the approval with which not only its principle +but most of its details were received by the greater part of the +Opposition; the leading principle being, to quote the words of the +minister in introducing the bill, "that there should be one uniform +government instituted, applicable to all; one uniform franchise for the +purpose of election; and a like description of officers in each, with +the exception of some of the larger places, in which there would be a +recorder, or some other such magistrate. The first thing to be amended +was the mode of election to the corporation, which was now to be +intrusted to all such rate-payers in each borough as had paid poor-rates +for three years, and resided within seven miles of the place." Lord John +Russell had considered, he said, "whether this franchise should be +limited to those paying a certain amount of rates; to the ten-pound +householders, for instance, to whom the parliamentary franchise was +confined;" but he decided on proposing to extend it to _all_ +rate-payers, because, according to the established principle, to the +known and recognized principle of the constitution, it is right that +those who contribute their money should have a voice in the election of +the persons by whom the money is expended. The old modes of acquiring +the freedom of a corporation, such as birth, apprenticeship, etc., were +to be abolished, as also were all exclusive rights of trade, vested +rights, however, being preserved. The next point to be decided was the +composition of the corporation which these rate-payers were to elect, +and the ministerial proposal was that each corporation should consist of +a mayor, aldermen, and councillors, possessing a certain amount of +property as a qualification, and varying in number according to the +population of the borough; the larger towns being also divided into +wards, with a certain number of common-councilmen and aldermen to be +chosen in each ward. The mayor was to be a yearly officer; of the +aldermen and councillors a certain number were to retire each year, +being, however, capable of re-election. The mayor was to be elected by +the councils, and was to be a magistrate during his year of office. And +the body thus constituted was to have the entire government of the +borough; of its police, its charities, and generally, and most +especially, of the raising and expenditure of its funds,[239] which had +been too often dealt with in a manner not only wasteful, but profligate. +Cases had been brought forward in which "corporations had been incurring +debts year by year, while the members were actually dividing among +themselves the proceeds of the loans they raised." The revenue derived +from charitable estates had been "no less scandalously mismanaged." And +the bill provided for the appointment of finance committees, trustees, +auditors, and a regular publication of all the accounts, as the only +efficient remedy and preventive of such abuses. The whole police of the +town and administration of justice was also to be completely under the +control of the council; and for the appointment of magistrates the +council was to have the power of recommending to the crown those whom +they thought fit to receive the commission of the peace; and in the +large towns it should have power also to provide a salary for +stipendiary magistrates. Another clause provided that towns which could +not as yet be included in the bill, since they had never been +incorporated, might obtain charters of incorporation by petition to the +Privy Council. + +Such were the general provisions of this great measure of reform; a bill +similar in principle having already been enacted for Scotland, and +another being shortly after passed, with such variations of detail as +the differences in the circumstances of the country required, for +Ireland. Some of the clauses, especially those which preserved the +vested rights of freemen and their families, and which required a +certain amount of property or rating qualifications in the town +councillors, were not originally included in the bill, but were inserted +as amendments in the House of Lords; and it may be remarked that the +result of the discussion in that House afforded a proof of the sagacity +of those peers who, though conscientiously opposed to the Reform Bill, +preferred allowing it to pass by their own retirement from the final +divisions to driving the minister to carry his point by a creation of +peers, since the avoidance of such an addition to their numbers as had +been threatened enabled them now to force the adoption of these +amendments on a reluctant minister. And it seems difficult to deny that +the first was required by justice, and that the second was most +desirable in the interests of the measure itself. Without it the town +councillors, from among whom the mayor was to be chosen, might have been +selected from the poorest, the least educated, and least independent +class of the rate-payers. In some boroughs, or in some wards of many +boroughs, it may be regarded as certain that they would have been so +chosen; and such an admixture of unfit persons would have tended to +bring some degree of discredit on the whole council, while to the +successful inauguration of a new system the establishment of a general +feeling of respect for it and confidence in it was of primary +importance. The danger, too, of so ill-judged a selection would have +been greatest in the larger boroughs, those being, at the same time, the +very places in which the occasional difficulty of maintaining order and +tranquillity made it even more necessary than in smaller towns that the +council should enjoy the esteem and confidence of their fellow-citizens. + +The principle that every man who contributed to the rates had a right to +claim a voice in the election of those who were to expend them, which +the minister laid down as the justification of the clause conferring the +municipal franchise on all the rate-payers, was strongly contested by +Sir Robert Peel, though neither he nor those of his party in the Upper +House proposed any alteration of the bill in this respect; but he +pointed out that, though Lord John affirmed it to be the known and +recognized principle of the constitution, he had not acted on it in the +Reform Bill; and it is certainly open to question whether the adoption +of some limitation would not have been an improvement on the present +measure. The doctrine established in this instance by Lord John gave a +preponderance at every municipal election to mere numbers, since the +poorest class is everywhere the most numerous, and its admission led +almost inevitably to a reduction of the parliamentary franchise at some +future day, though certainly at this time, and for many years afterward, +Lord John was far from contemplating any alteration of the Reform Bill, +but, on the contrary, took every opportunity of proclaiming his +adherence to it as a final solution of the question. + +But though in this particular it is possible that the bill might have +been improved, it must be allowed to have been a measure very creditable +to its framers. Few reforms have been conceived in a more judicious and +more moderate spirit; few have been so carefully limited to the removal +of real and proved abuses, and the prevention of their recurrence, while +avoiding any concessions to the insidious demands of revolutionists, or +the ill-regulated fancies of metaphysical theorists. It was a reform +strictly in accordance with some of the most important principles of the +constitution, as they have been gradually developed by the practical +experience of successive generations. It combined with felicitous skill +representative with local government; it secured uniformity in working, +and that peculiarly English principle of publicity, without which the +best-devised system cannot long be preserved from degeneracy. + +The Church reforms in England and Ireland, which were carried out about +the same time, cannot be said to have involved any constitutional +principle, though one of them greatly extended the principle of +religious toleration and indulgence to the Dissenters of various sects. +No alteration had been made in the Marriage Act of 1754, which declared +it indispensable to the validity of a marriage that it should be +performed in a church and by a clergyman of the Established Church. And +it was not strange that this should be felt as a grievance by those who +were not in communion with that Church. But some of the Dissenting sects +had an additional cause of discontent in the words of the marriage +service, which gave a religious character to the ceremony, while they +regarded it as a civil contract. In his short administration Sir Robert +Peel had recognized the validity of the arguments against the unmodified +maintenance of the existing law, and had framed a measure calculated, in +his view, to give the Dissenters the relief their title to which could +not be denied. But his bill had been extinguished by his retirement. And +Lord John Russell now availed himself of the machinery of another +measure, which he introduced at the same time, to make the relief +somewhat wider and more effective. + +Hitherto there was no record of births and marriages beyond that which +was preserved in the registers of different parishes, which in former +years had in many instances been carelessly and inaccurately kept. But +at the beginning of 1836, the ministers, justly urging that it was +important, in a national point of view, both with regard to the security +of titles to property, and to that knowledge of the state of population +the value of which was recognized by the establishment of the practice +of taking a decennial census, that there should be a general register of +all such occurrences, introduced a bill to establish a registry and +registrar in every Poor-law union, with a farther registry for each +county, and a chief or still more general one in London for the whole +kingdom, subject to the authority of the Poor-law Commissioners. And by +a second bill they farther proposed that the registries to be thus +established should be offices at which those who desired to do so might +contract purely civil marriages. Previous clauses in it provided that +members of any sect of Protestant Dissenters might be married in their +own chapels, and by ministers of their own persuasion. After enactments +removing all the civil disabilities under which Nonconformists had +labored for one hundred and fifty years had been placed on the +statute-book, it was clearly inconsistent in the highest degree to +retain still more offensive and unreasonable religious disabilities, and +to deny to them the right of being married by their own ministers, +according to the rites most agreeable to their consciences or +prejudices. And though some of the details of the ministerial measure +were objected to and slightly altered in its passage through Parliament, +the general principle was admitted by the warmest friends and most +recognized champions of the Established Church, who wisely felt that a +bulwark which is too ill-placed or too unsubstantial to be defended, is +often a treacherous source of weakness rather than strength, and that a +temperate recognition of the validity of claims founded on justice was +the best protection against others which had no such foundation, and +that measures such as these adopted in a spirit of generous conciliation +could only strengthen the Church by taking at least one weapon from the +hands of its enemies. + +Another of the measures relating to the Church, of which Peel had +prepared a sketch, had for its object the removal of a grievance of +which the members of the Church itself had long been complaining, the +mode of the collection of tithe. It would be superfluous here to +endeavor to trace the origin of tithes, or the purposes beyond the +sustentation of the clergymen to which they were originally +applied.[240] They had undoubtedly been established in England some time +before the Conquest, and the principle that the land should support the +National Church was admitted by a large majority of the population; it +may probably be said with something nearly approaching unanimity on the +part of those who really paid it, namely, the land-owners. The objection +to the tithe system was founded rather on the way in which it worked, +operating, as Lord John Russell described it, as "a discouragement to +industry; a penalty on agricultural skill; a heavy mulct on those who +expended the most capital and displayed the greatest skill in the +cultivation of the land." The present mode of levying the tithes forced +the clergy to forbearance at the expense of what they deemed to be their +rights, or led them to enforce them at the expense of the influence +which they ought to possess with their parishioners, compelling them to +lose either their income by their indulgence, or their proper weight and +popularity in the parish by the exaction of what the law gave them for +"the support of themselves and their families." And this dilemma was +felt so keenly by the clergy themselves, that it had become a very +general feeling with them that, "if any sort of commutation could be +devised, they would be delighted to be delivered from this objectionable +mode of payment." Indeed, Sir Robert Peel, whose measure of the +preceding year had been chiefly directed to the encouragement of +voluntary commutations, had stated to the House that there were already +two thousand parishes in the kingdom in which a commutation between the +clergyman and his parishioners had been agreed upon, and established as +a durable settlement by separate acts of Parliament. Indeed, +arrangements of this kind existed very generally; the parishes in which +the tithe was taken in kind being comparatively few, and the plan +usually adopted being for the occupier of land to pay the incumbent a +fixed annual sum bearing a certain proportion to his rent. But +arrangements which were optional were, of course, liable to be +rescinded; and Peel desired to establish a system which should be +universal and permanent. And with this view he had designed the +appointment of a temporary commission, one member of which should be +nominated by the Primate, as the representative of the Church, under +whose supervision the tithes of every parish in the kingdom should be +commuted into a rent-charge, regulated partly by the composition which +had hitherto been paid, and partly by the average price of grain--wheat, +barley, and oats. It was no new idea, since as far back as 1791 Pitt had +proposed a general commutation of tithes for a corn rent, and had +submitted a plan with that object to the Primate, though circumstances +of which we have no accurate knowledge prevented him from proceeding +with it.[241] Objections[242] were taken to this last part of the +arrangement, chiefly because it would render perpetual the terms of +existing compositions, the extreme augmentation of them which was +provided for in the bill being only ten per cent., while it was +notorious that the majority of incumbents had shown such liberality in +these matters that the compositions rarely amounted to two-thirds of the +sum to which they were legally entitled. And it was hardly denied that +the measure did involve some sacrifice of the extreme legal rights of +the clergy; but it was urged and generally felt by the most judicious +friends of the Church that the peace and harmony which might be expected +to be the fruit of the measure was worth some sacrifice, and the bill +was passed with very general approval; a bill on similar principles, +with such variations as were required by the differences between the two +countries, being also passed for Ireland. + +The last measure on ecclesiastical subjects was also chiefly of a +financial character, though its details were calculated, some directly, +others indirectly, to produce benefits of a still more important nature. +The condition of the property of the bishops and the ecclesiastical +chapters had long been a subject of censorious remark. The various +dioceses differed greatly in extent, as did, therefore, the labors of +the diocesans. Some sees contained above 1000, one (London) even above +1200 parishes; others contained under 150. The revenues of some were +very large, in one or two instances approaching L20,000 a year, while +those of others scarcely exceeded L1000 or L1500 a year, thus affording +incomes palpably inadequate to the support of the Episcopal dignity; so +inadequate, indeed, that they were generally supplemented by the +addition of some better endowed deanery or canonry. It was universally +felt that such a deficiency and such a mode of supplying it were in +themselves a scandal, which was greatly augmented by the system of +translations to which it had given birth. The poorer bishoprics would +hardly have been accepted at all had they not been regarded as +stepping-stones to others of greater value; and the hope of such +promotion had in some cases the not unnatural, however deplorable, +effect of making the bishop anxious to please the minister of the day, +to whom alone he could look for translation, by parliamentary +subservience; and the still more mischievous result (if possible) of +rendering the whole Bench liable to the same degrading suspicion; while +the canonries and prebends in the different chapters, whose revenues +also varied greatly, were in every diocese so numerous that they had +become nearly sinecures, the duties rarely exceeding residence for a +month, or, at the outside, six weeks in a year. + +These abuses (for such they could not be denied to be) had attracted the +attention of Sir Robert Peel, who had appointed a commission, of which +many of the highest dignitaries of the Church were members, and who, +after very careful investigation and deliberation, presented a series of +reports on which the ministry framed its measure. They proposed, as has +already been mentioned in connection with the labors of Sir Robert Peel, +an amalgamation of four of the smaller bishoprics at their next vacancy, +in order hereafter to provide for the addition of two new ones at +Manchester, or Lancaster, and Ripon, without augmenting the number of +bishops. Lord Melbourne apparently feared to provoke the hostility of +some of the extreme Reformers, who had recently proposed to deprive the +bishops of their seats in the House of Lords, if he should attempt to +increase the number of the spiritual peers; though, as their number had +been stationary ever since the Reformation, while that of the lay peers +had been quadrupled, such an objection hardly seemed entitled to so much +consideration. Another clause was directed toward the establishment of +greater equality between the revenues of the different bishoprics, a +step which, besides its inherent reasonableness and equity, would +extinguish the desire of promotion by translation, except in a few +specified instances. Various reasons, sufficiently obvious and +notorious, rendered the two archbishoprics, and the bishoprics of +London, Durham, and Winchester, more costly to the occupants than the +other dioceses; and these were, therefore, left in possession of larger +revenues than the rest, proportionate to their wider duties or heavier +charges. But all the others were to be nearly equal, none exceeding +L5500, and none falling below L4500; while the five richer sees were +also the only ones to which a prelate could be translated from another +diocese. It followed, almost as a matter of course, that the practice of +allowing a bishop to hold any other preferment was to cease with the +cessation of the cause that had led to such an abuse. + +Another part of the bill provided for the suppression of such canonries +or prebends as might fairly be considered superfluous. Four were +considered sufficient for the proper performance of the duties of each +cathedral; and the extinction (after the lives of the present holders) +of the rest was designed to form a large fund, to be at the disposal of +the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,[243] and to be applied by them chiefly +to meet the wants of the more populous parishes in different large +towns, for which it had hitherto been difficult to make any +provision,[244] by contributing to the erection of additional churches, +by increasing the incomes of the incumbents in cases where it was +insufficient, or in any other way which the practical experience of the +members of the commission might suggest. One very important reform of a +different kind was also provided for in the abolition of pluralities, +the bill prohibiting the holding of two livings by the same person +except they were within ten miles of each other. The measure was +objected to by Sir Robert Inglis, who had represented Oxford as the +peculiar champion of Protestant and Church principles ever since 1829, +and by a party which shared his views, as one calculated to be "fatal to +the best interests of the Church." They looked on the property of the +Church and everything connected with it as invested with so peculiar a +character, that they not only contested the right of Parliament to take +any step to diminish its revenues or to change the employment of them, +but they even "disputed its right to deprive one class of the clergy of +any portion of their revenues for the purpose of distributing it among +another." But the distinction thus made between Church property and that +of any other public body seems one which can hardly be supported. The +purposes for which ecclesiastical chapters or officials have been +endowed with possessions and revenues are undoubtedly of a more sacred +character than the duties imposed on lay corporations; but that +consideration cannot be regarded as affecting the tenure of those +possessions, or as inconsistent with the doctrine that they are national +property, bestowed by the nation on the Church for the service and +advantage of the people; deeply interested not only in the maintenance +of an Established Church, but in that Church being in the highest +possible degree efficient for its holy objects. Being so bestowed and +appropriated, that property must, on every principle of the +constitution, be subject to the control of the national Parliament. And +surely that control could never be more legitimately exerted than in +carrying out the recommendations of a commission which numbered among +its members several of the prelates of the Church, whose profession and +position were a guarantee for their anxiety to preserve all the rights +of the Church which contributed to its credit or efficiency; while their +matured experience enabled them better than any other men to judge how +to reconcile the maintenance of its dignity with the extension of its +usefulness. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 226: The second resolution affirmed that "this House looks +forward to a progressive improvement in the character of the slave +population, such as may prepare them for a participation in those civil +rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of his +Majesty's subjects." (Stapleton's "Life of Canning," iii., 98, where +also large extracts from the minister's speech are given.)] + +[Footnote 227: Trinidad, St. Lucia, and Demerara were the only British +islands which had not separate Legislatures.] + +[Footnote 228: Miss Martineau. "History of the Thirty Years' Peace," +book iv., c. viii.] + +[Footnote 229: Alison, "History of Europe," 2d series, c. xxxi., sec. +74.] + +[Footnote 230: In the debate on the Registration Bill, in 1836, Lord +John Russell stated that two hundred and twenty eight unions had already +been formed in England and Wales, and that it might be calculated that +when the whole country was divided into unions the entire number would +amount to something more than eight hundred.] + +[Footnote 231: See Lord Althorp's speech, of parts of which an abstract +is given in the text.--_Parliamentary Debates_, xxii., April 17.] + +[Footnote 232: Lord Althorp made the following frightful statement of +the crimes committed in the province of Leinster alone in the last three +months of 1832 and the first three of 1833: 207 murders, 271 cases of +arson. The assaults attended with grievous personal injury were above +1000; burglaries and robberies, above 3000.] + +[Footnote 233: It was often asserted that fourteen-fifteenths of the +land in Ireland belonged to Protestants, but this estimate was, +probably, an exaggeration.] + +[Footnote 234: "Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel," ii., 3, 19.] + +[Footnote 235: "Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel," pp. 31, 32.] + +[Footnote 236: "One important question I found practically, and perhaps +unavoidably, decided before my arrival, namely, the dissolution of the +existing Parliament. Every one seemed to have taken it for granted that +the Parliament must be dissolved, and preparations had accordingly been +made almost universally for the coming contest."--_Peel's Memoirs_, ii., +43.] + +[Footnote 237: "Middle Ages," ii., 31 _seq_. See also Stubbs, +"Constitutional History," i., 82-92 _et seq._] + +[Footnote 238: See Hallam's "Constitutional History," ii., 155.] + +[Footnote 239: This was a matter of no small importance. The number of +boroughs included in the bill was 183, having a population of about two +millions. Their annual income was stated by Lord John Russell to be as +nearly as possible L2000 a year for each, being L367,000; but their +annual expenditure exceeded that amount by L10,000, being L377,000; +"besides which there was a debt of L2,000,000 owing by these bodies."] + +[Footnote 240: See Hallam, "Middle Ages," ii., 205-207.] + +[Footnote 241: "Life of Pitt," ii., 131. Lord Stanhope imagines that the +plan was relinquished in consequence of discouraging comments by the +Archbishop (Dr. Moore).] + +[Footnote 242: These objections were founded on the following +calculations, or something similar to them. The tithe was the tenth of +the produce. In letting estates it was estimated that a farm ought to +produce three rents; in other words, that a farm let at L1 an acre ought +to produce yearly L3 an acre. One-tenth of three pounds, or 6s., +therefore, was what the clergyman was entitled to claim. Out of this, +however, he had to defray the cost of collection, which might, perhaps, +be one shilling, leaving him five shillings. But the average of +compositions over the whole kingdom was under 2s. 9d., or +eleven-twentieths of what he was entitled to; and if augmented by ten +per cent., it would not exceed three shillings.] + +[Footnote 243: The fund so created was expected to amount to L130,000 a +year.] + +[Footnote 244: As instances of the want of church-room in such towns, +Lord John cited the dioceses of London, Chester, York, Lichfield, and +Coventry, containing a population of 2,590,000 persons, with church +accommodation for only 276,000, or one-ninth of the population; the +Commissioners, from whose report he was quoting, reckoning that +church-room ought to be provided for one-third.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Death of William IV., and Accession of Queen Victoria.--Rise of the +Chartists.--Resignation of Lord Melbourne in 1839, and his Resumption of +Office.--Marriage of the Queen, and Consequent Arrangements.--The +Precedence of the Prince, etc.--Post-office Reform.--War in +Afghanistan.--Discontent in Jamaica.--Insurrection in Canada.--New +Constitution for Canada and other Colonies.--Case of Stockdale and +Hansard. + + +The reforms mentioned in the preceding chapter were the last measures of +the reign of William IV. In the summer of the next year, 1837, he died, +and was succeeded in his British, though not in his Hanoverian, +dominions by our present gracious sovereign, who had only just arrived +at the age which entitled her to exercise the full authority of the +crown. The change was calculated to strengthen the crown, by enlisting +the chivalrous feelings of all that was best in the nation in the +support of a youthful Queen, and in a lesser degree it for a time +strengthened the ministry also; but, with respect to the latter, the +feeling did not last long. For the next three years the summers were +very unfavorable to the farmer; the harvests were bad; the inevitable +accompaniment of a rise in prices had caused severe and general +distress, and distress had produced clamorous discontent, and in some +districts formidable riots. It had been greatly aggravated in the +manufacturing counties by the operations of the trades-unions, which had +gradually put forth pretensions to regulate the wages and other +conditions of work, and had enforced them with such tyrannical violence, +not flinching from the foulest crimes, that in many instances they had +driven the masters to close their factories rather than submit to their +mandates; and in others had compelled the workmen themselves to +discontinue their labors, thus spreading destitution among thousands +whose earnings, if they had been allowed to consult their own wishes, +would have been amply sufficient for the support of their families;[245] +and the evil had grown to such a height, that in 1838 a committee was +appointed by the House of Commons to investigate the whole subject of +trade combinations. But the turbulent spirit excited by this distress +did not now confine itself to single outbreaks of violence, but, under +the guidance of some demagogues of a more methodical turn of mind than +usual, developed itself in a systematic organization having for its +object what they called "the people's charter," which aimed at a total +revolution of the existing parliamentary system, with the avowed design +that, when adopted, it should eventually lead to an entire +reconstruction of the government. The Chartists, as they called +themselves, had advocates even in Parliament, who presented their +petitions to the House of Commons, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to +give them importance by the appointment of a committee to investigate +the character of the reforms which they demanded. They were not, +however, contented with peaceful modes of pressing their demands, but, +in the course of the summer of 1839, broke out in formidable riots in +different parts of the country. At Birmingham they set fire to different +parts of the town, carrying on their work of pillage and destruction to +such a pitch that the Duke of Wellington compared the condition of the +town to one taken by storm in regular warfare; and at Newport, in +Monmouthshire, they even planned and carried out an attack on the troops +quartered in the district. But this violence led for a time to the +suppression of the movement, the leaders in the Newport riots being +convicted of high-treason; and, though the government forbore to put the +extreme severities of the law in force against them, those who remained +unconvicted had been taught by their example the danger which they +incurred by such proceedings; and some years elapsed before a series of +revolutionary troubles on the Continent again gave a momentary +encouragement to those in this country who sympathized with the +revolutionists, and prompted them to another attempt to force their +views upon the government and the people. + +It had nearly, however, been another ministry on whom the task of +quelling these riots had fallen. Though, as has been already said, Lord +Melbourne's cabinet derived a momentary strength from the accession of a +young Queen, the support it thus acquired did not last; and in May, +1839, having been defeated on a measure of colonial policy, which will +be mentioned hereafter, the cabinet resigned. The Queen intrusted the +task of forming a new administration to Sir Robert Peel, who undertook +it with a reasonable confidence that he should be able to hold his +ground better than formerly, now that the retirement of his predecessors +was their own act, and admitted by them to have been caused by a +consciousness of the divisions among their supporters and their own +consequent weakness. He had the greater reason for such confidence, +since two of the colleagues of Lord Grey who had refused his offers in +1834, Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham, were now willing to unite with +him; and he had almost completed his arrangements, when he was stopped +by an unexpected, though not altogether unprecedented, impediment. It +will be recollected that, in 1812, some of the arrangements for the +formation of a new administration on the death of Mr. Perceval were +impeded by a doubt which was felt in some quarters whether the new +ministers would be allowed to remove one or two officers of the +household, to whom the Regent was generally understood to be greatly +attached, but who were hostile to the party which hoped to come into +power, though it was afterward known that these officers had felt +themselves bound to retire as soon as the arrangements in contemplation +should be completed.[246] Sir Robert Peel was now met by a difficulty of +the same kind, but one which the retiring ministers had the address to +convert into a real obstacle. The Queen, who had warm affections, but +who could not possibly have yet acquired any great knowledge of +business, had become attached to the ladies whom Lord Melbourne had +appointed to the chief places in her household. It had never occurred to +her to regard their offices in a political light; and, consequently, +when she found that Sir Robert considered it indispensable that some +changes should be made in those appointments, she at once refused her +consent, terming his proposal one "contrary to usage and repugnant to +her feelings." Sir Robert, however, felt bound to adhere to his request +for the removal of some of the ladies in question; for, in fact, they +were the wives and sisters of his predecessors, and a continuance of +their daily intercourse with the Queen might reasonably be expected to +have some influence over her Majesty's judgment of the measures which he +might feel it his duty to propose. Such a difficulty could not have +arisen under a male sovereign; but Lord Melbourne himself had departed +from the ordinary practice when he surrounded his royal mistress with +ladies so closely identified with his cabinet. It is very possible that +he had originally made the appointments without any such design, from +the careless indifference which was his most marked characteristic; but +he cannot be so easily acquitted when, in reply to the Queen's +application to him for advice on the subject, he, being joined in his +assertion by Lord John Russell, assured her that Sir Robert Peel's +demand was unjustifiable and unprecedented. Supported by the positive +dictum of the ministers on whose judgment she had hitherto been bound to +rely, the Queen naturally adhered to her decision of refusing to permit +the removal of the ladies in question, and the result was that Sir +Robert Peel declined to take office under circumstances of difficulty +beyond those to which every new minister must of necessity be exposed, +and Lord Melbourne and his colleagues resumed their posts. The +transaction was, of course, canvassed in both Houses of Parliament. Sir +Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington, who was the spokesman of the +party in the House of Lords, defended their refusal to undertake the +government on any other condition than that for which they had +stipulated, on the ground that the authority to make such changes in the +household as they had proposed was indispensable, as a proof of their +possession of her Majesty's confidence; while Lord Melbourne, with a +strange exaggeration, defended the advice which he had given her Majesty +by the assertion that to have complied with Sir Robert Peel's proposal +would have been "inconsistent with her personal honor." Other arguments +on the same side were based on the alleged cruelty of separating her +Majesty "from the society of her earliest friends, her old and constant +companions;" an argument which was disposed of by Lord Brougham's +remark, that till she had become Queen (not yet two years before) she +had had no acquaintance with them whatever.[247] + +But it is needless to dwell at any length on the case, in which all +subsequent historians and political critics, however generally +prepossessed in favor of the Liberal ministers, have given up their +position as untenable. Her Majesty herself kept strictly on the path of +the constitution in guiding herself by the counsels of those who, till +their successors were appointed, were still her responsible advisers. +But the course which they recommended was absolutely irreconcilable with +one fundamental principle of the constitution--the universal +responsibility of the ministers. In denying the right of the incoming +ministers to remodel the household (or any other body of offices) in +whatever degree they might consider requisite, they were clearly +limiting the ministerial authority. To limit the ministerial authority +is to limit the ministerial responsibility; to limit the ministerial +responsibility is to impose some portion of responsibility (that portion +from which it relieves the minister) on the sovereign himself, a +dangerous consequence from which the constitution most carefully +protects him. In fact, that the advice Lord Melbourne gave was +indefensible was tacitly confessed by himself, when, on the recurrence +of the same emergency two years later, he was compelled to recommend a +different course;[248] and the ladies whom Sir Robert had considered it +necessary to remove anticipated their dismissal by voluntary +resignation. It may be added that, at the close of this same year, Lord +Melbourne himself insisted on nominating the private secretary to the +Prince whom the Queen was about to marry, though no one could pretend +that offices in his household were as important as those in that of the +sovereign; and though, if there was any post in which the Prince might +have been supposed to have a right to an unfettered choice, that might +have been supposed to have been the office of his private +secretary.[249] + +Her Majesty's marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, her first +cousin--one tending as greatly to the happiness of herself and the +advantage of the nation as any royal marriage recorded in history--took +place in the beginning of 1840; and in the preparatory arrangements-- +matters of far greater consequence to the Queen's feelings than any +appointments in the household--the ministry, by singular mismanagement, +contrived to force the consideration of other constitutional questions +on Parliament in such a way that the conclusions which were adopted, +however inevitable, could hardly fail to be mortifying and vexatious to +her Majesty, in whose cup of happiness at such a moment special care +ought rather to have been taken to prevent the admixture of any such +alloy. In the matter of the annuity to be settled on the young Prince, +the Opposition must, indeed, share the blame with the minister. If it +was unpardonable carelessness in the latter to omit the usual practice +of previously consulting the leaders of the Opposition on the amount of +the grant to be proposed, it was not the less impolitic and unworthy of +such men as the Duke and Sir Robert Peel to show their disapproval of +the inattention by a curtailment of the grant. The sum proposed, L50,000 +a year, was fairly justified by the fact of its being the same which +twenty-four years before had been settled on the Prince's uncle, +Leopold, on his marriage with the Princess Charlotte. Indeed, if there +were to be any difference, the circumstances might have been regarded as +warranting an increase rather than a diminution of it. Money was +certainly more plentiful in 1840 than in 1816, and the husband of an +actual Queen occupied, beyond all question, a higher position than the +husband of the heiress-presumptive, who might never become Queen, and +who, in fact, never did. We cannot think, therefore, that the reduction +of L20,000, which Sir Robert Peel proposed and carried, was reasonable +or becoming, but regard it as neither called for by the circumstances of +the kingdom, nor as befitting its liberality, nor as in harmony with its +practice. + +But on the two other questions--one immediately affecting the +constitution, and the other not absolutely unconnected with it--no +defence of the minister seems available. At the opening of Parliament in +1840, her Majesty commenced her speech by the announcement of her +intended marriage, describing the bridegroom simply as "the Prince of +Saxe-Coburg and Gotha," the same expression which she had used in +addressing the Privy Council a few weeks before. That description of him +had at once struck her uncle, Leopold--who, since the death of his +English wife, the Princess Charlotte, had become King of Belgium--as so +imperfect and insufficient, that, on reading her address to the Privy +Council, he at once wrote to her to point out that it would have been +desirable to mention the fact of the Prince being a Protestant,[250] and +that the omission would inevitably cause discontent. But, in spite of +this warning, Lord Melbourne refused to advise the Queen to insert a +statement of the Prince's religion in her speech, though it was by no +means superfluous on such an occasion, since, if he were a Roman +Catholic, a marriage with him would have incurred a forfeiture of the +crown. The Duke of Wellington, on the other hand, regarded it as a +positive duty to require that the fact of the Prince being a Protestant +should be mentioned, so as to show the care of Parliament to prevent any +constitutional precautions from being overlooked, such statement having, +indeed, been usually made on similar occasions. When he, therefore, +moved an amendment to insert the word "Protestant" in the description of +the Prince, Lord Melbourne did not venture to divide the House against +it; but still his management gave an ungracious appearance to the +transaction, as if there had been in any quarter an unwillingness to +recognize the fact of the Prince's Protestantism till the recognition +was forced on the government by the action of the Parliament. + +The third question, as affecting the relative ranks and positions of the +different members of the royal family, cannot be said to have been +wholly unconnected with the provisions of the constitution; and the +mismanagement of the minister was, perhaps, even more sure to attract +notice in this case than in the other, since to introduce into a bill a +clause which had no connection whatever with its title had something of +the appearance of a deliberate slight to the two Houses. A bill to +naturalize the Prince was, of course, indispensable. But into it the +ministers, without any notice, had introduced a clause enabling him +"during his life to take precedence in rank after her Majesty in +Parliament and elsewhere as her Majesty might think fit and proper, any +law, statute, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." It was +admitted that no such precedence had been given to Prince George of +Denmark, nor to Prince Leopold. And there were obvious difficulties in +the way of conferring such a life-long precedence, because, as Lord +Brougham had pointed out, it was possible that the Queen might die +without issue, in which case the King of Hanover would become King of +England also, and his son the Prince of Wales; and it would have been an +inconceivable anomaly that a foreign naturalized prince should take +precedence of the Prince of Wales, whose special rank and importance was +recognized in many acts of Parliament. This objection was so clearly +insuperable, that Lord Melbourne consented to alter the clause so as to +give the Prince precedence only "after the heir-apparent." But even this +concession failed to satisfy the objectors, the King of Hanover, among +others, positively refusing to waive his precedence over any foreign +prince. And eventually the minister withdrew the clause altogether, and +the bill, as it was passed, was confined to the naturalization of the +Prince. Lord Melbourne had thus contrived to make the Queen and Prince +appear as if they were desirous to induce the two Houses by a sort of +trick to confer on the Prince a precedence and dignity to which he was +not entitled, and to render the refusal of Parliament to be so cajoled a +fresh cause of mortification to the royal pair. The course that was +eventually adopted is understood to have been suggested by the Duke of +Wellington--to withdraw the affair altogether from the cognizance of +Parliament, and to leave it to the Queen to confer on the Prince +whatever precedence she might choose, as it was certainly within her +right to do. And so, a few days after the bill had passed, she did by +letters-patent give him precedence next to herself "on all occasions and +in all meetings, except when otherwise provided by act of Parliament," +as, seventeen years later, she, in the same way, with the cordial +approval of the whole nation, conferred on him the title of Prince +Consort. And apart from its convenience, as avoiding all unseemly +discussions, this would seem to have been the most natural and proper +mode of settling such a matter. The Queen is the fountain of honor in +this kingdom, and at her own court she can certainly confer on any of +her own subjects whatever precedence she may think fit, while it may be +doubted whether any act of a British Parliament could give precedence at +a foreign court. It was, probably, not in his character of Duke of +Cumberland, but as an independent sovereign, that the King of Hanover +maintained his claim to superior precedence; and it was plain that the +most illustrious subject could not possibly at any court be allowed to +rank above a king. With reference to its possible effect on the +subsequent relations of Peel and his followers with the court, it was, +perhaps, well that a few months later they had the opportunity of +proving that no personal objection to the Prince himself had influenced +their course in these transactions, by giving a cordial assent to the +ministerial proposal of conferring the Regency on him in the event of +the Queen giving an heir to the throne, and dying while he was still a +minor. The principle was the same as that which had guided the +arrangements for a Regency ten years before; but it was not +inconceivable that Parliament might have hesitated to intrust so large +an authority to so very young a man, and him a comparative stranger, +such as the Prince still was, had the leaders of the Opposition given +the slightest countenance to such an objection. + +Lord Melbourne's ministry was hardly strengthened by the circumstances +under which it resumed office. Yet the close of the same year witnessed +a reform of which it is hardly too much to say that no single measure of +this century has contributed more to the comfort of the whole mass of +the people, with which it has also combined solid commercial benefits. +Hitherto the Post-office had been managed in a singular manner, and the +profit derived from it had been treated as something distinct from the +ordinary revenue of the kingdom. In the reign of Charles II. it had been +given to the Duke of York, and the grant was regarded as conferring on +him such extensive rights, that when, some years afterward, an +enterprising citizen set up a penny post for the delivery of letters in +the City and its precincts, the Duke complained of the scheme as an +infraction of his monopoly, and the courts of law decided in his favor. +That grant ceased, as a matter of course, on the Duke's accession to the +throne; and in the reign of Queen Anne a portion of the Post-office +proceeds was appropriated, with the general consent of a grateful +country, to reward the great achievements of the Duke of Malborough, a +perpetual charge on it of L5000 a year being annexed to the dukedom. In +those days the postage of a letter was twopence for short distances, and +threepence for any distance beyond eighty miles.[251] But those charges +had been gradually increased; about the middle of the century the lowest +charge was fixed at fourpence, rising in proportion to the distance, +till the conveyance of a single letter from one extremity of the kingdom +to the other cost eighteen-pence. Such a rate could not fail to be very +profitable; and by the beginning of the present reign the yearly profit +exceeded a million and a half of money. The heaviness of the charge, +however, had latterly attracted attention, and had been the cause of +many complaints, as being a great discouragement, and, in the case of +the poorer classes, a complete obstacle to communication. However, +neither the ministers nor the Parliament had succeeded in devising any +remedy, since a system affording so large a return was not a thing +lightly to tamper with, when those who complained suddenly found a +practical leader in Mr. Rowland Hill, who published a pamphlet on the +subject, in which he affirmed the cost of the conveyance of each letter +even for such a distance as from London to Edinburgh to be infinitely +less than a farthing; and that, consequently, all the rest of the +postage was a tax for the purposes of revenue. When this fact was once +established, it needed no argument to prove that to increase the tax +paid by each recipient of a letter in proportion to the distance at +which he lived from the writer was an indefensible unfairness; and, +after much investigation and discussion, Mr. Hill succeeded in +converting the ministers to his view. Accordingly, the Budget for 1839, +introduced by Mr. Spring Rice, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, +contained a clause which reduced the postage for every letter weighing +less than an ounce to a uniform charge of a penny, to be prepaid by +means of a stamp to be affixed to each letter by the sender. It was not +without plainly-expressed reluctance that the scheme was consented to by +the Opposition; nor can their hesitation be considered as unreasonable, +in the very unsatisfactory condition of the finances of the kingdom at +the time. The balance-sheet of the preceding year showed a considerable +deficiency. There was a large unfunded debt; and even Mr. Hill's most +sanguine calculations admitted a probable loss to the Post-office of +L1,200,000 for the first year or two; though he expressed his confidence +that eventually the correspondence of the kingdom would be found to +increase so largely as to make up for the greater part, if not the +whole, of the deficiency. His anticipations were far outran by the +reality. + +In 1839 the Postmaster-general estimated the number of letters sent +yearly by the post at less than twenty-five millions. They are now +upward of a thousand millions, a number the conveyance of which (with +the addition of newspapers, whose circulation had also been greatly +augmented by a recent reduction of the tax to a penny) would have +severely taxed the whole carrying power of the kingdom before the +introduction of railroads. Nor have the benefits of the new system been +confined to ourselves. Foreign nations have followed our example, though +not quite in the same degree, till an international postage is at length +established throughout the whole of the civilized world. And it has not +been only the happiness of private individuals that has been augmented +by this facility of communication. In its gradual development it has +largely promoted the extension of trade of every kind, and, by +facilitating a commercial intercourse between nations, it cannot but +contribute to the maintenance of friendship and peace. + +The full advantages of this reform could not be seen at first; but, even +had it been appreciated as fully as we appreciate it now, no approval of +it could have counterbalanced the general dissatisfaction with which the +ministry was regarded. At home the finances were falling into great +disorder, the expenditure of the year greatly exceeding the income; +while the feeling that their Irish policy was dictated by a wish to +purchase at any price the support of O'Connell, was still more injurious +to them, for he was already beginning to renew agitation in Ireland, +inaugurating a new association, which, though its purposes were faintly +veiled for a time under the title of the Precursor Association, was +understood to point at a repeal of the Union; while the ministers, +though they denounced such a measure as ruinous to every part of the +kingdom, seemed willing to give it practical encouragement by a bill +which they introduced, which bore the name of a Registration Act for +Ireland, but which was not confined to that object. On the contrary, it +contained a provision for lowering the qualification for the franchise +by one-half; so that it was, in fact, a new Reform Bill for +Ireland,[252] calculated greatly to increase his influence by the number +of voters of the poorer classes whom it would create. The bill was +defeated, but the odium of having proposed it remained. + +But, besides these home difficulties, there were troubles abroad, both +in the East and in the West. In the East, the complications inseparable +from a dominion like that of ours in India, where constant expansion +seemed to have become a law of its existence, had involved us in a war +with a new enemy, the warlike Afghan nation; in the West, both Jamaica +and Canada were in a state threatening insurrection. Indeed, the +troubles in Jamaica had been the immediate cause of that resignation of +the ministry in 1839 which has already been mentioned. Measures adopted +in the English Parliament with reference to the termination of that +apprenticeship system which, as we have seen, formed a part of the bill +for the abolition of slavery, and another for the regulation of the +prisons in the island, had given such offence to the colonial Assembly, +never very manageable, that the members passed a resolution that their +legislative rights had been violated, and that they would abstain from +all exercise of their legislative functions, except such as might be +necessary "to preserve inviolate the faith of the island with the public +creditor, until" (by the rescinding of the resolutions, etc., of which +they complained) "they should be left to the free exercise of their +inherent rights as British subjects." And this resolution was seconded +by an insulting protest, in which they drew an offensive comparison +between the state of crime in the island and that which prevailed in +Great Britain, taunting the British Parliament with the murders and acts +of incendiarism which terrified Ireland night and day, with the murders +of Burke and Hare in Scotland, with the law of divorce and _crim. con._ +trials in England, and "a Poor-law which has taken millions from the +necessities of the destitute to add to the luxuries of the wealthy." The +Governor dissolved the Assembly, but that which succeeded re-adopted the +resolutions of its predecessor, and the ministers, in consequence, +brought in a bill "to suspend the existing constitution of the island +for a limited number of years, and to provide that during that interval +its legislative functions should not be exercised by a Governor, a +Council, and a House of Assembly, but should reside in the Governor and +Council alone." The emergency was too great and undeniable, the remedy +proposed was also too unprecedented in its stringency, to be dealt with +without the gravest deliberation; and the House of Commons accordingly +gave the matter the patient consideration which became both it and +themselves. They allowed the island to appear by counsel against the +bill, and listened for many hours to an elaborate defence of the conduct +of the Assembly, which if it failed to change the intention of the +ministers, convinced Sir Robert Peel and his party that their measure +was doubtful in its justification and impolitic in its severity. He +pointed out that "the bill was neither more nor less than one for the +establishment of a complete despotism--one which would establish the +most unqualified, unchecked, unmitigated power that was ever yet applied +to the government of any community, in place of that liberal system +which had prevailed for upward of one hundred and fifty years." And, +though he did not for a moment question the power of Parliament to pass +such a measure, he greatly doubted the policy of such an exertion of it. +A somewhat similar measure affecting Canada they had been compelled to +enact in the preceding year, and he feared lest "it might seem to be +coming to be a practice of Parliament to suspend a constitution every +session." And he quoted a speech of Canning, delivered fifteen years +before, in which that eloquent statesman, a man by no means inclined to +a timorous policy, had declared that "no feeling of wounded pride, no +motive of questionable expediency, nothing short of real and +demonstrable necessity, should ever induce him to moot the awful +question of the transcendental power of Parliament over every dependency +of the British crown. That transcendental power was an ordinance of +empire, which ought to be kept back within the penetralia of the +constitution. It exists, but it should be veiled. It should not be +produced on trifling occasions, or in cases of petty refractoriness or +temporary misconduct." + +And Sir Robert, "looking at all the papers before the House, could not +say that there was here any vindication for bringing forward this +transcendental power." He asked whether "they had ever treated with so +much severity a conquered colony amid the first heat of animosity after +the contest." And he traced the history of our government of the island +back to the time of Charles II., pointing out (as Burke had formerly +argued with respect to our Colonies in North America) that "Jamaica owed +its colonization by British subjects to the conquest that was made of it +by the arms of Cromwell; that its first English population was composed +of those who, disgusted with the excesses of the civil wars, there found +a refuge," and who had carried with them that attachment to liberty +which, as early as 1678, had led them successfully to repel the attacks +made on the privileges of their House of Assembly by the ministers of +Charles II. He warned the House, also, that if this measure were passed, +"a sympathy for the people of Jamaica would be excited throughout the +other West Indian possessions of the crown." And, while fully admitting +that the conduct of the Assembly had been "foolish and unjustifiable," +he still recommended that it should be treated in a conciliatory spirit, +which as yet had not been shown toward it. + +The government carried their proposal by a majority of no more than five +in a very full house, a success which they regarded as a defeat, and, as +has been already mentioned, resigned. But as the state of the question +and of the island did not admit of delay, on their resumption of their +offices they introduced a fresh measure, which the Conservatives again +curtailed of its most severe clauses, and which, in the form in which it +was eventually passed, gave the Assembly time to reconsider its conduct, +and, without the humiliation of confessing itself guilty, to give a +practical recantation of their offensive resolutions, by resuming its +work of legislation, any farther delay of which would on many subjects +be very mischievous to the island itself. The distinct assertion by both +parties of the power of the Parliament to inflict even the severest +penalty enabled the Houses to take this conciliatory course without loss +of dignity; while the stern disapproval of the conduct of the Assembly +which the Conservative leader had expressed, even when pleading for a +milder treatment of it, convinced the colonists that any protracted +contumacy would be dangerous, and would deprive them for the future of +all title to even the modified protection which on this occasion had +saved them. + +In the discussion of these transactions, Peel, as we have seen, had +alluded to the affairs of Canada, which had been of a still more serious +complexion; since there the discontent of the colonists in the Lower +Province had developed into armed insurrection. We have seen that, from +the first moment after the country had passed into our possession, there +had been almost constant dissensions between the old French colonists +and the English immigrants who crossed over both from England and from +the colonies on the southern side of the St. Lawrence in the early part +of the reign of George III. The desire of terminating these divisions, +which had their root in a difference of religion as well as of race, the +French settlers being Roman Catholics, had been one of the chief motives +which had led Pitt in 1791 to divide the country into two +provinces.[253] And for many years the scheme was fairly successful; +but, toward the end of the reign of George IV., the political excitement +caused by the agitation in England of the question of Catholic +Emancipation, and subsequently of Reform, spread across the Atlantic to +the Canadas; and the French portion of the colonists, who almost +monopolized the representation in Lower Canada, began to urge the +adoption of changes utterly inconsistent with the existing constitution +of the colony. In the hope of compelling the compliance of the home +government with their demands, in 1832 and the following years they +refused to vote the necessary supplies; and, gaining courage, as it +were, from the contemplation of their own violence, and under the +guidance of a leader of French extraction, a M. Papineau, who scarcely +concealed his hope of effecting the complete severance of the Lower +Province from the British dominion, they proceeded to put forth farther +demands, which they regarded as plausible from the apparent resemblance +of the changes which they required to the system of the English +constitution, but which, to use the words in which Sir Robert Peel +described them, would have established "a French republic." The most +important of them were that the Upper or Legislative Council should, +like the Assembly, be rendered elective, instead of, as had hitherto +been the case, being nominated by the crown. And another asked that the +Executive Council should be made responsible to the Assembly, in the +same manner as in England the ministers of the crown were responsible to +Parliament. As it was at once shown that the ministry at home had no +intention of granting these demands, Papineau collected a band of +malcontents in arms, with whom he took possession of one or two small +towns, and ventured even to measure his strength with the +Commander-in-chief of the province, Sir John Colborne, one of the most +distinguished of Wellington's comrades and pupils. His force was utterly +routed, and he himself fled across the frontier to New York. A similar +outbreak, excited in the Upper Province by a newspaper editor, was +crushed with equal ease and rapidity.[254] And the next year, 1838, Lord +John Russell brought forward a bill to suspend the constitution of the +colony, and to confer on a new Governor, who was at once to proceed +thither, very ample powers for remodelling the government of the +province, subject, of course, to the sanction of the home government. In +the previous year he had succeeded in carrying some resolutions +announcing the determination of Parliament not to concede the demands of +the Assembly of the Lower Province, which have been already mentioned. +And the reasons which he gave for this course are worth preserving, as +expressing the view recognized by Parliament of the relations properly +existing between the mother country and a colony. It was on a proper +understanding of them that he based his refusal to make the Executive +Council in Canada responsible to the Assembly. He held such a step to be +"entirely incompatible with those relations. Those relations require +that his Majesty should be represented, not by a person removable by the +House of Assembly, but by a Governor sent out by the King, responsible +to the King, and responsible to the Parliament of Great Britain. This is +the necessary constitution of a colony; and if we have not these +relations existing between the mother country and the colony, we shall +soon have an end of these relations altogether." And he pointed out the +practical difficulties which might reasonably be apprehended if such a +change as was asked were conceded. "The person sent out by the King as +Governor, and those ministers in whom the Assembly confided, might +differ in opinion, and there would be at once a collision between the +measures of the King and the conduct of the representatives of the +colony." + +The plan of sending out a new Governor free from any previous +association with either of the parties, or any of the recent +transactions in the colony, was, probably, the wisest that could have +been adopted. Unfortunately, it was in some degree marred by the choice +of the statesman sent out, Lord Durham, a man of unquestioned ability, +but of an extraordinarily self-willed and overbearing temper. He drew up +a most able report of the state of the provinces, combined with +recommendations of the course to be pursued toward them in future, so +judicious that subsequent ministers, though widely differing from his +views of general politics, saw no better plan than that which he had +suggested; but, unhappily, the measures which he himself adopted, +especially with respect to the treatment of those who had been leaders +in the late rebellion, were such manifest violations of law, that the +government at home had no alternative but that of disallowing some of +them, and carrying a bill of indemnity for others. He took such offence +at their treatment of him, though it was quite inevitable, that he at +once resigned his appointment and returned home. But the next year the +Queen sent down a message to the Houses recommending a union of the two +provinces (a measure which had been the most important, and the very +foundation, of his suggestions), and Lord John Russell introduced a bill +which, as he described its object, he hoped would "lay the foundation of +a permanent settlement of the affairs of the entire colony." The main +feature of the government policy was the formation of "a legislative +union of the two provinces on the principles of a free and +representative government," and the establishment of such a system of +local government as amounted to a practical recognition of the principle +so earnestly repudiated, as we have seen, by Lord John Russell a year or +two before. It was not, perhaps, fully carried out at first. Lord +Sydenham, who had succeeded Lord Durham, reported to the home +government, as the result of a tour which he had taken through a great +part of the country, that in the whole of the Upper Province, and among +the British settlers of the Lower Province, "an excellent spirit +prevailed, and that he had found everywhere a determination to forget +past differences, and to unite in an endeavor to obtain under the union +those practical measures for the improvement of the country which had +been too long neglected in the struggle for party and personal objects." +But of the French Canadians he could not give so favorable a report. +Efforts were still made by some of the old Papineau party to mislead the +people; but he was satisfied they would not again be able to induce the +peasantry to support any attempt at disturbance. It was natural that +that party should still feel some soreness at the utter failure of their +recent attempts and the disappointment of their hopes; and affairs took +the longer time in being brought into perfect order and harmony through +a strange mortality which took place among the first Governors-general. +Lord Sydenham died the next year of lockjaw, brought on by a fall from +his horse; Sir Charles Bagot was forced to retire in a state of hopeless +bad health after an administration equally brief; two years later, Sir +Charles Metcalfe, who succeeded him, returned home only to die; and it +was not till a fourth Governor, Lord Elgin, succeeded to the government +that it could be said that the new system, though established five years +before, had a fair trial. + +Fortunately, he was a man admirably qualified by largeness of +statesman-like views and a most conciliatory disposition for such a post +at such a time; and he strictly carried out the scheme which was implied +by the bill of Lord John Russell, and to a certain extent inaugurated by +Lord Sydenham, selecting his advisers from the party which had the +confidence of the Legislative Assembly, and generally directing his +policy in harmony with their counsels; so that under his government the +working of the colonial constitution was a nearly faithful reproduction +of the parliamentary constitution at home. Such a policy was in reality +only a development of the principle laid down by Pitt half a century +before, and warmly approved by his great rival, that "the only method of +retaining distant colonies with advantage is to enable them to govern +themselves."[255] And since that day similar constitutions have been +established in our other distant dependencies as they have become ripe +for them--in New Zealand, the Cape, and the Australian colonies--almost +the only powers reserved to the home government in those colonies in +which such constitutions have been established being that of appointing +the governors; that of ratifying or, if necessary, disallowing measures +adopted by the colonial government; and, in cases of necessity, that of +prescribing measures for the adoption of the local Legislatures, and +even of compelling such adoption, in the event of any persevering +opposition. The act of 1850, which established a constitution in +Victoria, went even farther in the privileges it conferred on the +colonists, inasmuch as it gave power to the Legislative Council to alter +some of its provisions, and even to remodel the Legislative Council and +Assembly. It may be doubted whether this last concession did not go too +far, since in more than one important instance the government of that +great colony has availed itself of it so liberally as to render it +necessary to pass a fresh act of Parliament to enable her Majesty to +give her royal assent to some of the changes which the Assembly had +enacted.[256] Indeed, it cannot be said that the system has worked in +every part or on every occasion quite as well as might have been hoped; +nor can it be denied that the colonies have occasionally claimed a power +of independent action in opposition to the home Parliament in a way to +try severely the patience of the home government. After the British +Parliament had adopted the policy and system of free-trade, the Canadian +Assembly adhered to the doctrine of protection so obstinately that it +actually established a tariff of import duties injurious to the commerce +of the mother country, and apparently intended as a condemnation of its +principles. But its contumacy showed how wholly different was the spirit +of the British government from that which had prevailed in the last +century; for though the home government had unquestionably the right of +disallowing the offensive tariff, it forbore to exercise it; and, +probably, by this striking proof that it considered a complete +recognition of the principle of local self-government more important +than any trifling financial or commercial advantage, contributed greatly +to implant in Canada and all the colonies that confidence in the +affectionate moderation of the home government which must be the +strongest, if not the only indissoluble, bond of union. + +On the whole, it is hardly too much to say that no more statesman-like, +and (if sentiment may be allowed a share in influencing the conduct of +governments) no more amiable spirit animates any act of our modern +legislation than is displayed in these arrangements for the management +of our colonies. They are a practical exemplification of the idea +embodied in the expression, "the mother country." A hundred years ago, +Burke sought to impress on the existing ministers and Parliament the +conviction that, "so long as our Colonies kept the idea of their civil +rights associated with our government, they would cling and grapple to +us, and no force under heaven would be of power to tear them from their +allegiance." In the case of which he was speaking his warning, as we +have seen, fell on deaf ears; but the policy of the present reign is a +willing and full adoption of them, on a far larger scale than even his +farseeing vision could then contemplate. Within the century which has +elapsed since his time the enterprise of Britain has sent forth her sons +to people another hemisphere; and they, her children still, cling to the +parent state with filial affection, because they feel that, though +parted from her by thousands of miles and more than one ocean, they are +still indissolubly united to her by their participation in all the +blessings of her constitution, her generous toleration, her equal laws, +her universal freedom. + +On one transaction of these years the leaders of the Opposition were +found acting in close agreement with the ministers. We have seen how, in +the early part of the reign of George III., the House of Commons threw +the sheriffs of London into prison, on account of their performance of +what they conceived to be their duty as magistrates; and in 1840 it +subjected the same officials to the same treatment on a question of the +same character--the extent of the privilege of the House of Commons to +overrule the authority of the courts of law. The question was in +appearance complicated by the institution of several suits at law, and +by the fact that the House was not consistent in its conduct, but +allowed its servants to plead to the first action, and refused the same +permission in the second, when the result of the first trial had proved +adverse to them. The case was this: some inspectors of prisons has +presented a report to Parliament, in which they alleged that they had +found in Newgate a book of disgusting and obscene character, published +by a London publisher named Stockdale. The House of Commons had ordered +the report to be printed and sold by Messrs. Hansard, the Parliamentary +publishers, and Stockdale brought an action against Messrs. Hansard for +libel. Chief-justice Denman charged the jury that "the fact of the House +of Commons having directed Messrs. Hansard to publish their reports was +no justification to them for publishing a Parliamentary report +containing a libel;" and Stockdale obtained damages, which were duly +paid. Stockdale, encouraged by this success, when, in spite of the +result of the late trial, Hansard continued to sell the report, brought +a fresh action; but now the House forbade the publishers to plead to it; +and, as they obeyed the prohibition, and forbore to plead, the case +eventually came before the Sheriff's Court; fresh damages were given, +and, in obedience to the writ of the Queen's Bench, the sheriffs seized +Hansard's goods, and sold them to satisfy the judgment. Lord John +Russell, as leader of the House, moved to bring to the Bar of the House +all the parties concerned in the action--the plaintiff, his attorney, +the sheriffs, and the under-sheriffs. He was opposed by nearly all the +legal members of the House except the crown lawyers, Sir Edward Sugden +especially warning the House that "a resolution of the House was of no +avail in a court of justice;" while others taunted the House with want +of courage in not proceeding against the judges themselves, rather than +against their officers, which in this case the sheriffs were. + +There could be no doubt of the importance of the question, since it was +no less, as the Attorney-general, Sir J. Campbell, put it, than a +question whether Parliament or the courts of law had the superiority; +and now Sir Robert Peel, as leader of the Opposition, came to the +support of Lord John Russell, declaring his opinion to be, first, that +"the House possessed every privilege necessary for the proper and +effectual discharge of its functions;" secondly, that "the publication +of evidence which had led the House to adopt any course was frequently +essential to justify that course to the nation;" and thirdly, that "to +judge of the extent of their privileges, and to vindicate them by their +own laws, belonged to the House alone." And he pressed strongly on the +House that it was "the duty of the House to fight the battle to the +last," though he confessed that "it was with pain that he had come to +the determination of entering into a contest with the courts of law." On +one point the judges agreed with the House of Commons. The House +committed the sheriffs; but, when they sued out their _habeas corpus_, +the judges decided that the return of the Sergeant-at-arms that they +were committed by the House for breach of privilege was a sufficient +return. Stockdale brought fresh actions. But meantime the case was +arousing a strong excitement in the country.[257] The singular hardship +of the position of the sheriffs excited general sympathy: if they obeyed +the House of Commons, which prohibited them from paying over to +Stockdale the damages which they had received for him, the Court of +Queen's Bench would be bound to attach them for disobedience to its +order. If they obeyed the Queen's Bench, the House would imprison them +for breach of privilege. And the national feeling is always in favor of +the strictly defined authority of the courts of law, rather than of the +somewhat indefinite claims of Parliament to interpret, and even to make, +privilege. Another consideration, probably, weighed a little with the +champions of the House--that their power of imprisonment ended with the +session. As matters went on, it was found that even the Attorney and +Solicitor-general differed as to the course to be pursued; and +eventually Lord John Russell consented to adopt the advice which had +been given by a former Attorney-general, Sir F. Pollock, and to bring in +a bill to legalize all similar proceedings of Parliament in future, by +enacting that a certificate that the publication of any document had +been ordered by either House should be a sufficient defence against any +action. The introduction of such a bill was in some degree an +acknowledgment of defeat; but it can hardly be denied to have been not +only a judicious step, but the only one practicable, if the contest +between Parliament and the courts of law were not to be everlasting; and +it met with general approval. If it was a compromise, it was one that +satisfied both parties and both ends. It upheld the authority of the +courts of law, and at the same time it practically asserted the +reasonableness of the claim advanced by the House of Commons, by giving +it for the future the power which it had claimed. Nor were people in +this day inclined to be jealous of the privileges of Parliament, so long +as they were accurately defined. They felt that it was for the advantage +and dignity of the nation that its powers and privileges should be +large; what they regarded with distrust was, a claim of power of which +no one knew the precise bounds, and which might, therefore, be expanded +as the occasion served. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 245: Fifty-two mills and 30,000 persons were thrown out of +employment for ten weeks at Ashton in 1830 by the turning out of 3000 +"coarse spinners," who could clear at the time from 28s. to 31s. per +week. The following passage is extracted from an oath said to have been +administered by the combined spinners in Scotland in 1823: "I, A B, do +voluntarily swear, in the awful presence of God Almighty, and before +these witnesses, that I will execute with zeal and alacrity, as far as +in me lies, every task or injunction which the majority of my brethren +shall impose upon me in furtherance of our common welfare, as the +chastisement of _knobs_, the assassination of oppressive and tyrannical +masters, or the demolition of shops that shall be deemed +incorrigible."--_Annual Register_, 1838, pp. 204-207.] + +[Footnote 246: See page 221.] + +[Footnote 247: The question was examined with great minuteness by Lord +Brougham a fortnight after the ministerial explanation. See +"Parliamentary Debates," 3d series, xlvii., 1164.] + +[Footnote 248: It is stated on good authority that Lord Melbourne, in +private conversation, justified or explained the line he had taken by +his consideration for his friends, scores of whom would have had their +hopes blighted by his retirement.] + +[Footnote 249: See "Life of the Prince Consort," i., 55.] + +[Footnote 250: "Life of the Prince Consort," i., 57.] + +[Footnote 251: Macaulay's "History of England," i., 386.] + +[Footnote 252: This is the name which the Liberal historian of the time, +Miss Martineau, gives it. "The so-called Registration Bill was, in fact, +an unannounced new Reform Bill for Ireland."--_History of the Peace_, +book v., c. vi.] + +[Footnote 253: See _ante_, p. 127.] + +[Footnote 254: In one instance the rebels were aided by a party of +citizens of the United States, who, without any sanction from their own +government, seized an island on the St. Lawrence belonging to us, and +attacked some of the Canadian villages. And this led to the discussion +of a question of international combined with constitutional law, which +Lord Campbell thus describes: "'Whether, if the subjects or citizens of +a foreign state with which we are at peace, without commission or +authority from their own or any other government, invade the English +territory in a hostile manner, and levy war against the Queen in her +realm, we are entitled to treat them as traitors?' The Canadian courts +held that we could not, as they had never acknowledged even a temporary +allegiance to our sovereign. And of this opinion was Sir William +Follett. But, after reading all that is to be found on the subject, I +come to the conclusion that they owed allegiance when, as private +individuals, they voluntarily crossed the English frontier; that it was +no defence for them to say that they then had arms in their hands and +intended to murder the Queen's subjects."--_Life of Lord Campbell_, +ii.,119. It certainly would have been no _defence_; but would it not +have taken their conduct from under the definition of _treason_, and +made it an act of _piracy_?] + +[Footnote 255: See Fox's words, quoted by Lord Stanhope.--_Life of +Pitt_, ii., 90.] + +[Footnote 256: A couple of years after the period which is the boundary +of the present work, this Canadian constitution of 1841 was superseded +by a measure uniting Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick in one +federal government, with, as the act recites, "a constitution similar in +principle to that of the United Kingdom." The act farther provided for +the admission of other dependencies of the crown in North America, +Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, and Rupert's Land +into the union, and established as the constitution of the whole one +scarcely differing from that of 1841, with the exception that both the +Houses of the Legislature--called in the act the Senate and the House of +Commons--were to be representative bodies, and that powers were +conferred on them so absolutely free and independent, that it was +thought necessary to add a clause providing that their "privileges, +immunities, and powers were never to exceed those at the passing of the +act held, enjoyed, and exercised by the Commons House of Parliament of +the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and by the members +thereof."] + +[Footnote 257: Lord Campbell, in his autobiography, puts the +transaction, in the phase at which it had now arrived, in a very serious +light: "Next came a proceeding which placed me in a most difficult +position; and the public never knew the danger which then existed of a +convulsion unexampled in our history. The sheriffs sued out a writ of +_habeas corpus_, directed to the Sergeant-at-arms, commanding him to +produce before the Court of Queen's Bench the sheriffs of Middlesex, +alleged to be illegally in custody, with the cause of their detention. +Wilde, the Solicitor-general, was strong for refusing to make any return +to the writ, and for setting the Court of Queen's Bench at defiance. Had +I concurred in this opinion it would certainty have been acted on. The +consequences would have been that the Sergeant-at-arms, even with the +mace in his hand, would have been sent to Newgate by the Court of +Queen's Bench. The House must have retaliated by committing the judges. +The crown would then have had to determine on which side the army should +be employed, and for a time we must have lived under a military +government" (ii., 129). The noble and learned autobiographer does not +explain why it should have been indispensable to employ the army on +either side.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime-minister.--Commercial Reforms.-- +Free-trade.--Religious Toleration.--Maynooth.--The Queen's +University.--Post-office Regulations.--The Opening of Letters.-- +Naturalization of Aliens.--Recall of Lord Ellenborough.--Reversal of the +Vote on the Sugar Duties.--Refusal of the Crown to Sanction a Bill.--The +Question of Increase in the Number of Spiritual Peers.--Repeal of the +Corn-laws.--Revolution in France, and Agitation on the Continent.--Death +of Sir Robert Peel.--Indifference of the Country to Reform.--Repeal of +the Navigation Laws.--Resolutions in Favor of Free-trade.--The Great +Exhibition of 1851. + + +The transactions mentioned in the last chapter were among the last +events of Lord Melbourne's ministry. He had for some time been aware of +his impending defeat in the House of Commons, and, greatly to his +credit, had endeavored to make the return to office easier to his +successors by the friendly counsels he had given to the Queen on the +subject.[258] A dissolution of Parliament in the summer of 1841 only +weakened his party, and in September he resigned, and was succeeded by +Sir Robert Peel, who, comparatively short as was his tenure of +office,[259] found it long enough to establish for himself a reputation +as the greatest financier of Europe since the days of Pitt. It may be +worth remarking that, in the "Memoirs of the Prince Consort," it is +mentioned that in the course of his administration Peel found reason to +change his judgment on the question of which House of Parliament it was +the more desirable for the Prime-minister to be a member. Canning had +more than once asserted his conviction that the public business would be +more satisfactorily conducted when the Prime-minister was a commoner, +founding his opinion chiefly on the paramount importance of financial +questions, the discussion of which is almost confined to the House of +Commons, and conceiving it to be supported by the history of the +administration of Pitt, from whom, indeed, he had imbibed the idea; and +in former years Peel had more than once expressed his concurrence with +that view of the subject. But, from papers which were intrusted to him +for the execution of his great work, Sir Theodore Martin learned that +Peel had subsequently found reason to come to the opposite conclusion, +not from any change in his view of the relative importance of the +different departments of administration, but solely because "the amount +of work imposed upon the first minister in the House of Commons, in +addition to what he had to go through elsewhere, was too great for any +human strength. In the House of Lords the Prime-minister would escape +the necessity for being in a position to vindicate all the details of +administration, and to answer the multiplicity of questions on all sorts +of subjects, the putting of which has almost degenerated into a vice. He +had, therefore, come to the conclusion that it was there he ought to +be."[260] And, indeed, the subjects which demanded the care of the +minister, and attracted the attention of Parliament, were constantly +increasing in number, variety, and importance to the very end of his +administration. Not only were the financial difficulties of the country, +the depressed state of agriculture and commerce (the result of a +succession of bad harvests), sufficient causes for grave anxiety, but +the terrible war, of which mention has already been made, which we had +now been carrying on for nearly three years in Afghanistan, and which, +before the end of this very year, was about to be signalized by a +disaster such as had never before befallen a British army, threatened to +kindle the flames of war in Europe also, from the share which the +intrigues of Russia had had in fomenting the quarrel; and the same +danger was more than once in the course of the next five years imminent, +from the irritation with which France regarded us, and which, commencing +in Syria, while Lord Melbourne was still at the helm, lost no +opportunity of displaying itself, whether in transactions in the remote +Pacific Ocean or the old battle-field of the two nations, the Spanish +peninsula; and finally, these embarrassing perplexities were crowned by +the appalling visitation of famine, which, at the end of the fourth year +of the administration, fell upon Ireland with a severity surpassing any +similar event in modern history. + +With all these multiform difficulties the new minister grappled with +unflinching courage, and with conspicuous success. Peace was preserved +abroad, and financial prosperity was restored at home. Into the details +of his measures devised for this last-mentioned object, though the +leading features of his administration, and those on which his fame +chiefly rests, it would be beside the purpose of the present work to +enter. It is sufficient to say here that, in the spirit of Pitt's great +financial reform of 1787, he revised the whole of the import duties of +our commercial tariff, especially reducing the duties on raw +material;[261] making up the deficiency so caused by an income tax, +which he described as a temporary imposition, since he doubted not that +the great increase of lawful trade, which would be the consequence of +the reduction of duties, would soon enable the revenue to dispense with +a tax to the objections of which he was not blind. In recommending this +great change to the House, he laid down as the soundest maxim of +financial legislation, in which "all were now agreed, the principle that +we should buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest," a +doctrine which, when more fully carried out, as it was sure to be, led +almost inevitably to the great measure for which his administration is +most celebrated, the repeal of the Corn-laws. There could be no doubt +that, in the most modified application of it, it struck at the root of +the principle of protection, which had hitherto been the fundamental +principle of our finance, and made a farther extension of it inevitable. + +And, as he had been one of the leading members of the ministry which +carried Catholic Emancipation, so he now proceeded on the same path of +religious toleration; and, in the session of 1844, successfully +recommended to the House of Commons a bill which had already been passed +by the Lords, repealing a number of penal acts affecting the Roman +Catholics, which, though they had long been practically obsolete, still +encumbered, and it may be said disgraced, the statute book, and were, so +to say, a standing degradation of and insult to the Roman Catholic body. +One of them, passed in the reign of William and Mary, still forbade any +Roman Catholic to come within ten miles of London, to have either sword +or pistol in his house, or to possess a horse worth more than five +pounds. Another, enacted under Elizabeth, still made every Roman +Catholic who omitted to take certain oaths guilty of high-treason, +though no attempt to administer those oaths had been made since the +Revolution. Another, of the time of Charles I., deprived any Roman +Catholic who should send his son to a foreign school of all protection +of the law; he could neither sue nor defend an action. It may fairly be +said that the credit of Parliament and of the nation was concerned in +the abrogation of laws so ridiculously oppressive, and not the less +obnoxious for being practically invalid. And in the same spirit another +measure was framed and carried by the Lord Chancellor, whose object was +the confirmation of religious endowments belonging to different sects of +Protestant Dissenters, and their protection from vexatious and unjust +litigation, by making a continued possession of any kind of endowment or +property for twenty years a valid title. + +These enactments may be regarded as indispensable supplements to the +repeal of the Test Act and Catholic Emancipation. They were the +coping-stone of the great edifice of religious toleration, of which the +former acts had laid the foundation. And the next year Peel carried out +still farther the same principle, by a measure which could not fail to +be regarded as an especial boon in Ireland, since the great majority of +the population of that kingdom were of the Roman Catholic persuasion. It +has been seen that when the troubled state into which the Continent was +thrown by the French Revolution threw hinderances in the way of the +Irish students designed for the Roman Catholic priesthood going to one +of the great Continental colleges, such as St. Omer or Salamanca, for +their education, Pitt established for them a college at Maynooth, for +the endowment of which Parliament was annually asked for a grant of +about L9000. The sum had long been felt to be altogether inadequate to +the requirements of the foundation. As early as the year 1807, Lord +Liverpool, then Home-secretary, had contemplated a large increase of the +grant, though the weakness of the government, then presided over by the +Duke of Portland, prevented him from carrying out that and other +measures which he had conceived in a kindred spirit. Moreover, the grant +was rarely proposed without giving rise to a warm debate raised by a +party whose too tender consciences forbade them to sanction any measure +appearing to foster a religion from which they dissented. And to remedy +the two evils (the one arising from the want of a sufficient provision, +the other from the spirit of religious controversy, for which the House +of Commons was certainly very ill-calculated), Peel, in 1845, proposed +to treble the grant, so as to put the college on a more satisfactory +footing, by providing sufficient incomes for the professors, and a +revenue adequate to the respectable maintenance of an increased number +of pupils; and also to place the charge for the future on the +Consolidated Fund, by which step its yearly discussion in Parliament +would be altogether avoided. The measure was vigorously resisted, partly +on the religious ground already mentioned, and partly by an argument, +urged with some plausibility, that the design with which the college had +originally been founded had not been realized; that, in fact, it had not +proved a benefit to the country, but rather the reverse, by tempting +into the service of the Roman Catholic Church a humbler and poorer class +of students than could devote themselves to it when the preliminary +education involved the expense of a protracted residence in a foreign +country. But the obvious advantages of the change prevailed over these +considerations, and the bill was carried by large majorities.[262] + +And now that the long cessation of controversy on the subject--which, +indeed, has been not the least beneficial fruit of this bill of +1845--permits a candid consideration of it in all its bearings, it will +probably be thought that Parliament had not often come to a wiser +decision, one more dictated by judicious liberality of sentiment, and +more imperatively required on every ground of statesman-like policy. If +the countervailing objections and advantages be calmly weighed, it may +almost be said that there was no alternative between enlarging the +endowment and putting it on a new footing, or suppressing the college +altogether. In its existing condition it was notoriously inadequate to +fulfil the design of its founder; and any establishment visibly +inadequate to its design tends to bring the design itself into some +degree of contempt. Yet even if it should be granted that there might +have been no fair ground of complaint if the college had never been +founded, to close it after its benefits, however scanty, had been +enjoyed for half a century, could not fail to have been regarded as an +unpardonable injustice and injury. The other alternative, therefore, was +practically the only one that remained; and in embracing it Peel was but +carrying out the original principle on which the college was founded. It +had been intended to be efficient; through lack of means it had proved +inefficient. The obvious and just remedy was to supply such increased +means as to create or bestow the efficiency originally aimed at. And it +was a felicitous idea to place the charge for the future on such a +footing as to combine with such an increase an avoidance of the +irritation which its yearly discussion had never failed to excite. + +And at the same time, to carry still farther the principle of religious +toleration, or rather of religious equality, he induced the Parliament +to found a new university, consisting of three colleges, one in each of +the three provinces of Ulster, Munster and Connaught (Leinster, as +having Trinity College and Maynooth, being regarded as already +sufficiently provided with university education), which should be open +to students of every religious denomination, and at which, while every +kind of secular education, both literary and scientific, should be +given, the stirring up of religious controversy and animosity should be +guarded against, by the absence of any theological professorships. He +did not, indeed, design that the still greater benefits of religious +education should be withheld from the pupils, but he proposed to provide +for that object by confiding their religious education to the care of +the clergy of each persuasion, some of whom in each town which was the +seat of a college--Belfast, Cork, and Galway--might be trusted for +willingness to superintend it. It was hoped that one fruit of this +scheme, and that by no means its least valuable result, would be that +the association of pupils of various creeds in their studies and +amusements from an early age would lead them to maintain, in their more +mature years, the harmony of which the foundation had thus been laid in +their youth; and that thus the religious animosities which were the +principal obstacle to the prosperity of the country would be softened, +and in time extinguished. And this object has been achieved to a great +extent, though the disfavor with which the Roman Catholic Church regards +any educational system which is not under the superintendence of its +priesthood has prevented the scheme from attaining the full development +which was hoped for. The number of students of each of the principal +sects--the Church of Ireland, the Roman Catholics, and the +Presbyterians--steadily increases.[263] Members of each religious body +are among the professors in each college, and all accounts represent the +most perfect harmony and cordiality as existing throughout the whole +body. + +Yet, important as was the principle contained in these measures, none of +them, perhaps, caused such excitement at the moment as an exercise by +the government of what was, in point of fact, one of its most ancient, +as well as most essential, powers: the occasional opening of letters +which passed through the post, in compliance with a warrant of the +Secretary of State. England had at all times been the refuge of those +unquiet spirits who, in pursuit of their schemes of rebellion and +revolution, had incurred the displeasure of their own governments, and +had too easily found accomplices here. And in the course of the summer +some notorious offenders of this class found a member of the House of +Commons to present a petition, in which they complained that some +letters which they had posted had been stopped and opened by the +officers of the Post-office. The member who presented the petition +appears to have fancied it an unprecedented and wholly unlawful exercise +of authority; but Sir James Graham, the Home-secretary, not only at once +avowed that the statement was true, and that he had issued his warrant +for the opening of the letters mentioned, but also showed that the power +to issue such an order was reserved to the Secretary of State in all the +statutes which regulated the proceedings of the Post-office. The clause +in the act which conferred the power had been originally framed by Lord +Somers, a statesman certainly as little open as any of his time to the +suspicion of desiring to encroach on the rightful liberty of the +subject; and it had been exercised from time to time in every reign +since the Revolution. It was a power intrusted to the Secretaries of +State for the public safety, and exercised by them on their own +responsibility. The practice and its justification were assailed in both +Houses of Parliament by members of the extreme Liberal party; but, +though no distinct motion on the subject was made, the general feeling +of both Houses was plainly evinced, that it was a power which might at +times be highly useful for the prevention of crime, or for the +hinderance of conspiracies which might be dangerous to the general +welfare and tranquillity, and that the constitutional responsibility +attaching to every minister for every official act was a sufficient +security against its being improperly used.[264] + +And it will, probably, be generally admitted that this was the +statesman-like view of the subject. There is no doubt that the practice +in question does infringe the great constitutional right of every +individual in these kingdoms to absolute freedom of communication with +his friends. But the most important and the most cherished +constitutional rights must possess something of elasticity. It must be +necessary at times to go back to the original object for which those +rights have been conferred and secured. That original object is the +safety and welfare of the whole body corporate--of the entire nation. +And if that safety and welfare at times require the sacrifice, a wise +ruler will not hesitate to demand it of the people, or to impose it on +them for their own good. So another principle of the constitution is the +absolute freedom of action for all the subjects of the sovereign; yet +that principle is infringed by more than one statute: Factory Acts, +which limit the hours of even voluntary labor; Education Acts, which +compel the parent to a certain line of conduct toward his children; each +in their way substitute another rule for that entire freedom of action +which, as has been said before, is the fundamental principle of the +constitution; but they make the substitution on the reasonable ground +that the course of action which they compel is for the benefit, not only +of the individual constrained, but of the whole community of which he is +a member, and for whose welfare all laws and constitutions exist. + +One of the grounds of complaint against the exercise of this power, +which had been alleged by some of the opponents of the government, had +been that Sir James Graham's conduct had been dictated by an unworthy +subservience to some of the despotic sovereigns of the Continent. The +fact was indignantly denied in the House of Lords by the Duke of +Wellington; and in the course of the session a remarkable proof was +afforded how little influence such motives had on the decisions of our +government, when they acquiesced in the passing of a bill which was a +virtual repeal of the Alien Act, which had existed for more than half a +century, and of which more than one Continental sovereign would +certainly have desired the retention. Of late, indeed, it had been so +modified, that practically it had become little more than a dead letter; +and now, in 1844, without being formally repealed, it was virtually +abrogated by an act which enabled all foreigners to obtain letters of +naturalization, which conferred on them every right of British subjects, +except those of becoming members of Parliament,[265] or of the Privy +Council. + +Generally speaking, few governments had enjoyed more of the confidence +of the nation than Peel's did in 1844; yet in this year it was exposed +to two remarkable mortifications. The charter of the East India Company, +as framed by Pitt in subsequent events, which has led to the entire +extinction of the political power of the Company, makes anything beyond +this brief mention of the transaction superfluous at the present time. + +The other mortification of the ministry to which allusion has been made +fell upon it at home in the Parliamentary discussion of the +Prime-minister's financial measures, on which his judgment was usually +regarded as pre-eminent, and on which a large majority of the House was +generally disposed implicitly to follow his guidance. Sir Robert was +not, indeed, himself Chancellor of the Exchequer, that office being +filled by Mr. Goulburn, but it was certain that the Budget was inspired +by a deference to the Prime-minister's views. And, among the +arrangements which it proposed, one consisted of a relaxation of the +sugar-duties, which was regarded with dread by those interested in the +West Indies, as a farther step in the direction of free-trade, and as +depriving them of the modified protection which they were as yet +enjoying. To preserve that protection to them, Mr. Miles, the member for +Bristol, proposed an amendment which, after an animated debate, was +carried by a majority of twenty. Three months before, on the Factory +Bill and the question whether the hours of labor should be limited to +ten or to twelve, the minister had also found himself defeated, though +by a much smaller majority; but in that case the defeat had been the +less pronounced from the inconsistency of the votes on the different +limits.[266] And he extricated himself from that difficulty by +abandoning the bill altogether, and introducing a new one, not without +angry resistance on the part of Lord John Russell and other members of +the Opposition. They denounced such a manoeuvre as alike +unconstitutional and unparliamentary; while he, on the contrary, +insisted that the House had always jealously retained the right of +reconsidering its own decisions. In that instance, however, the +introduction of a new bill might have been regarded as the simplest mode +of harmonizing the variety of views which had been represented by the +discussion of and votes on the ministerial proposal and the amendments; +but no such expedient was practicable in this case, that of the +sugar-duties. A defeat on an important clause in the Budget by a +majority of twenty was a far more serious matter; it was such a blow as +had generally been reckoned sufficient to require a resignation of a +ministry. But on this occasion Peel did not feel himself called on to +take that step; nor was he inclined to dissolve Parliament, which some +regarded as his only legitimate alternative, though he had little doubt +that, if he did so, he should be supported by the confidence of the +country. After careful reflection, the course on which he eventually +decided was to adhere to the principle of a relaxation of duties, but to +consent to a moderate variation from his original proposal as to the +amount. And in pursuit of this plan, on the next discussion of the +Budget, he proposed an amendment to that effect, making the adoption of +it by the House a test of its confidence in the administration. Lord +John Russell opposed the amendment with great vehemence, pronouncing the +acceptance of it, if it should be accepted, and the House should thus +consent "to retract its previous vote, a lamentable proof of +subserviency, which would disgrace it with the country." What Sir Robert +now asked was, substantially, that they should now declare that to be +expedient which they had declared to be inexpedient only three nights +ago; and Lord Palmerston insisted that the proper course to be taken by +the government was to resign; while Mr. Labouchere, who had also been a +member of Lord Melbourne's cabinet,[267] though he admitted that there +might be "circumstances under which a minister might without impropriety +ask the House to reconsider a vote," denied that the present was such a +case, and especially denounced the importation of the question of +confidence or no confidence in the ministry into the discussion as +"dangerous and unconstitutional." Another section of the Opposition +agreed in taking the same line; Mr. Disraeli (then beginning to lay the +foundations of his reputation and influence) strongly denouncing the +conduct of the minister, as degrading both to his own supporters and +still more to the whole House, and recommending him to say frankly to +both, "We have gauged your independence, and you may have a semblance of +parliamentary freedom as far as this point, but the moment you go +farther, you must either submit to public disgrace, or we must submit to +private life." The end of the discussion was, that the minister +prevailed by a majority a trifle larger than that which had defeated him +before. This is not the place to discuss the difference between one +principle of taxation and another; but the question whether a minister +when defeated is justified in asking either House of Parliament to +reconsider its vote, seems one that could only have been raised in a +House under the influence of unusual excitement of some kind. The charge +that such a request was unconstitutional only serves to show how loosely +the words "constitution" and "unconstitutional" are often used even by +those from whom precision of language might most be expected; for Sir +Robert Peel's proposal that the House should retract its vote was not +unprecedented, the very same demand having been made in 1833 by Lord +Althorp, then Chancellor of the Exchequer of Lord Grey's ministry, of +which those very men were members who were now loudest in denouncing the +conduct of the present government. And on that occasion it is worth +remarking that, though Lord Althorp's demand was resisted in one or two +quarters, he was vigorously supported by Sir Robert Peel, on the ground +that, though to rescind one night a vote passed on a former one might be +not altogether free from objection, it would be a far greater evil that +questions of importance should be held to be in all cases finally +decided by a single vote, passed, it might be, in a thin House, or in +obedience to some sudden impulse. + +And this seems to be the view of the case commended not only by +constitutional and parliamentary practice, but by common-sense. It would +be strange, indeed, when the questions submitted to the British +Parliament and the decisions of that Parliament on them are so often of +paramount importance to the whole world, if the Parliament should be the +only body in the world denied the right of revising its own judgments, +the only one whose first resolution is so irrevocable that even itself +may not change or modify it. To rescind a recent vote is, no doubt, as +Sir Robert Peel said, a step not wholly free from objection. It should +be an exceptional act, as one which, if often repeated, would give an +appearance of capricious fickleness and instability to the opinions of +Parliament, calculated to impair that respect for it which the whole +state and nation are deeply concerned in upholding; but to refuse, under +any circumstances, to confess a change of judgment, would lay the +Parliament open to an imputation at least equally dangerous to that +respect--that of an obstinacy which refuses to confess the possibility +of being mistaken, or to hear reason. It would not be well, therefore, +that the abrogation of a previous vote should become an ordinary +practice; but it would be equally undesirable that any fixed or +unchangeable rule should be interposed to prevent a second discussion of +an important question, with the possibility of its leading to a reversal +of the opinion first expressed. + +In the same year (1844) the ministers felt compelled to raise a +constitutional point of singular refinement, which had the effect of +arresting the progress of a bill, in which one part of the kingdom took +a lively interest, which a division in its favor proved to be fully +shared by the House of Lords.[268] It has been already mentioned that in +the last year of the preceding reign a bill had passed for creating, +when opportunity offered by the sees affected becoming vacant, two new +bishoprics at Ripon and Manchester, the incomes of which were to be +provided by the union of some of the smaller existing bishoprics, +Gloucester with Bristol, St. Asaph with Bangor. But the Welsh regarded +with great disapproval any reduction of the number of bishoprics in the +principality, and Lord Powis now brought in a bill to repeal so much of +the act as provided for the union of two Welsh sees, urging not only +their great extent, which he stated at 3000 square miles of very +mountainous country, but the fact that the population of North Wales was +steadily and largely increasing. The bill, as has been intimated, was +favorably received by the Lords, who passed the second reading by a +majority of twelve; but, before it could be read a third time, the Duke +of Wellington, as leader of the ministry in that House, announced that +the bill was one which touched the prerogative of the crown, and +therefore could not be proceeded with without the consent of her +Majesty, which he was not authorized to express. + +As the matter was explained by the Chancellor, Lord Lyndhurst, the +manner in which the bill touched the royal prerogative was this: as, +during the vacancy of any see, its temporalities belonged to the crown, +any alterations in a see affected the direct pecuniary interests of the +crown, and he, as Speaker of the House, doubted whether he should be +justified in putting a question which so touched the royal prerogative +without the sovereign's consent. A committee which was appointed to +investigate the case fully confirmed the view thus taken by the +ministers, and the bill was dropped. + +It was, however, an exercise of the royal prerogative which was received +by the House in general with great dissatisfaction. Certainly, since the +Civil List and royal income had been placed on their present footing, it +was only by a very forced construction that the pecuniary interests of +the sovereign could be said to be affected. And it seemed a very +insufficient plea for evoking the exercise of a power which, as it was +said, had certainly never been exerted before since the accession of the +Hanoverian dynasty. Nor was it made more acceptable by the explanation +of Lord Brougham, who on this occasion came to the support of the +minister, that the refusal of the crown's consent at this stage was "a +warning, as it were, a polite and courteous communication between the +sovereign, as guardian of the privileges of the crown, and the two +Houses of Parliament, that if they passed a certain bill it would not +receive the royal assent;" for, though the right to refuse the royal +assent to any bill was incontestable, it had not been exercised since +the time of William III., and to put it in force for the protection of +an imaginary interest of the crown itself would have been so unpopular +an exercise of it that no administration could have ventured to advise +it. + +One of the arguments which the Duke of Wellington brought forward in the +discussion, and which, probably, contributed to induce him thus to +strangle Lord Powis's bill, has had an influence on subsequent +legislation. He urged that its adoption--since the resolution to +establish bishoprics at Manchester and Ripon was one which every one +desired to carry out--would increase the number of bishops, "and thus +make an organic change in the constitution of the House of Lords." It is +not very clear how the addition of a single spiritual peer could have +that effect. But the Duke had dwelt upon the same argument before in the +debate on the proposed union of the sees affected, urging that there was +such a jealousy of the Church in many quarters, and especially in some +of the large towns, that it would be very undesirable to pass any +measure the effect of which would be to increase the number of Episcopal +peers. Even if there was any general reluctance at that time to see such +an increase (a fact which was by no means ascertained), it may be +doubted whether it was founded on any sufficient reason. It is not easy +to see why, when there is no limit to the augmentation of the number of +lay peers, it should be judged impolitic or unjust to make even so small +an addition to the number of spiritual peers. At the Restoration the +spiritual peers were, probably, more than a fifth of the entire House. +From the great number of subsequent creations of lay peers they were now +less than a sixteenth, so that there could be no ground for apprehending +that a slight re-enforcement of the Episcopal bench would disturb the +balance, or give the Church an undue preponderating weight in the +decisions of the House. The difficulty, however, such as it appeared to +the Duke then, has had such weight with subsequent administrations, that +a new principle has been established of creating bishoprics which shall +not at first confer seats in the Upper House till their holders become +entitled to them by seniority. As they are peers from the moment of +their consecration, it may be doubted whether this creation of peers, +without seats in Parliament, does not deserve the name of "an organic +change in the constitution," far more than the addition of one or two +ecclesiastical peers to the Episcopal bench; and also whether it has not +established a dangerous principle and precedent; the disconnection of +bishoprics from seats in Parliament, in even a single instance, seeming +to furnish an argument in favor of the exclusion of the whole order, a +measure which, if unjust and injurious to the Church, would be at least +equally injurious to Parliament itself, and to the whole state. + +But all questions of this kind were presently lost sight of in the +excitement produced by the measure which more than any other has stamped +Sir Robert Peel's administration with a lasting character, the repeal of +the Corn-laws. Many statesmen, even of those who were most in favor of +free-trade in other articles of commerce, made an exception in the case +of corn, partly from a feeling of the necessity of encouraging +agriculture, and partly from a conviction of the danger of in any way +contributing to create or increase a dependence on foreign countries for +the food of the people. Both Whigs and Tories were generally thus agreed +on the necessity of maintaining the principle of protection; the dispute +between the two parties being whether it were best achieved by a fixed +duty on imported corn, or by what was commonly known as a sliding scale: +a scale, that is, which varied inversely with the price of the grain +itself, rising as the price in the home market fell, and falling as it +rose. In the manufacturing districts a different feeling had prevailed +for some years. In the first years of the present reign severe distress +in Manchester and others of the chief manufacturing towns had led to the +formation of an association whose chief object was sufficiently +indicated by its title of the Anti-Corn-law League. At first Mr. +Villiers, the member for Wolverhampton, was its principal spokesman in +the House of Commons, but at subsequent elections two manufacturers of +great eloquence obtained seats, and year after year urged the entire +repeal of all duties on corn with great earnestness, though for some +time their arguments made but little impression on the House. Their +motions were rejected in 1842 by a majority of 300; in 1843 by one +exceeding 250; in 1844 by above 200; and in 1845 by one of more than 130 +in a much smaller House. But this last division had scarcely been taken +when an unprecedented calamity--the almost entire failure of the potato +crop, which was attacked in nearly every part of both islands by a new +disease, the cause of which is not to this day fully ascertained-- +suddenly changed the aspect of the subject. To the English farmer and +laborer it was a severe loss; to the Irish farmer it was ruin; to the +Irish peasant famine. The grain harvest, too, was generally deficient. +And it was evident that rigorous measures, promptly taken, were +indispensable, if a large portion of the peasantry in the southern and +western provinces of Ireland were not to be left to perish of actual +starvation. In the face of so terrible an emergency Peel acted with +great decision. On his own responsibility he authorized the purchase of +a large supply of Indian corn from the United States, hoping, among +other indirect effects of such a step, to accustom the Irish to the use +of other kinds of food besides the root on which hitherto they had too +exclusively relied.[269] And he laid before his colleagues in the +cabinet a proposal to suspend the existing Corn-law "for a limited +period," a measure which all saw must lead to its eventual repeal. It +would be superfluous now to recapitulate the discussions which took +place, the various alternative proposals which were suggested, or the +dissensions in the cabinet to which his proposal gave birth; the +resignation of the ministry, and its subsequent resumption of office, +when Lord Stanley and Lord John Russell had found it impossible to form +an administration. It is sufficient to say that, as soon as Parliament +met, Sir Robert brought forward a bill to reduce the duty on corn to +four shillings, a price only half of the lowest fixed duty that had ever +been proposed before, that reduction, too, being a stepping-stone to the +abolition of all duties, at the end of three years, beyond a shilling a +quarter, which was to be retained, in order to acquire an accurate +knowledge of the quantity of grain imported. The diminution, however, of +this duty was not the whole object of his new measure. It included other +arrangements which would serve as a compensation to the agriculturists, +by relieving them from some of the peculiar burdens to which the land +was subjected; and it contained, farther, a reduction or abolition of +import duties hitherto levied on many other articles, especially on such +as "formed the clothing of the country," on the fair ground that if the +removal of protection from the agriculturist were "a sacrifice for the +common good," the commercial and manufacturing interests might justly be +required to make a similar sacrifice for the same patriotic object. + +Though opposed in both Houses with unusual bitterness, the ministry +carried their measure, which, indeed, in all probability, even if the +destruction of the potato crop had not come to accelerate the movement, +could not have been long delayed, the continual and rapid increase of +the population adding yearly strength to the arguments of those who +denounced the imposition of any tax which had the effect of increasing +the price of the people's food. But, however inevitable it may have +been, we are not the less compelled to regard it as indirectly bringing +about a great constitutional change, or rather as consummating that +which had been commenced by the Reform Bill. Till the year 1832 the +territorial aristocracy had exerted a predominating influence in the +government of the state. The Reform Bill, which deprived the wealthier +land-owners of the greater part of their power at elections, struck the +first blow at that influence. The abolition of the Corn-laws inflicted +on it a still more decisive wound, by its extinction of the doctrine +that there was any such peculiar sacredness about the land and its +produce as entitled them to protection beyond that enjoyed by other +kinds of property. Placing in that respect the commercial and +manufacturing interest on a level with the landed interest, it made us, +in a farther and a somewhat different sense from that in which Napoleon +had used the phrase, a nation of shopkeepers.[270] + +The repeal of the Corn-laws had another result: it divided the +Conservative party, and, as a necessary consequence, led to the downfall +of the ministry. The same session which witnessed its success in +carrying that repeal witnessed also its defeat on a coercion bill, which +they regarded as indispensable for the "protection of life in Ireland," +where actual murders had reached the appalling amount of nearly three +hundred in two years. The ministry at once resigned, and Lord John +Russell had no difficulty in forming an administration, now that the +question of the Corn-laws was finally settled. It was, however, no bed +of roses to which the new ministry succeeded; the famine in Ireland +exceeded the worst anticipations; and, though prodigious efforts were +made by the government and Parliament to relieve it, though large sums +were placed at the disposal of the Lord-lieutenant, aided by +contributions from private sources in England to an enormous amount; +though the small remnant of the import duty on corn which had been left +on it by the measure of the preceding year was taken off, and the +navigation laws suspended, in order that no obstacle interposed to the +acquisition of food from every available quarter, it was estimated that +more than half a million of people perished through actual famine or the +diseases which scarcity brought in its train.[271] A severe monetary +crisis was one not unnatural result of this distress, so severe that the +Funds fell to a price below any that had been quoted for many years, and +the reserve in the Bank of England to an amount lower than it had been +at any period since 1828. And these difficulties had hardly been +surmounted when a new revolution in France overturned the dynasty of +Louis Philippe and established a republic. The revolutionary contagion +spread to Italy, where, indeed, the movement had begun. The Pope--Pius +IX.--who had but lately succeeded to the tiara, was forced to flee from +Rome in the disguise of a foreign courier, after his Prime-minister had +been murdered by the mob. Germany was scarcely less disturbed. The +administration of Metternich, who had governed Austria with authority +little less than absolute for nearly forty years, was overthrown in a +tumult in which he himself escaped with difficulty from the violence of +the populace; dangerous riots took place at Munich, at Berlin, and at +the capitals of most of the smaller principalities, and for some time +everything seemed to portend the outbreak of a general war, likely to be +the more formidable as being a war of the revolutionary and republican +against the monarchical principle. Happily, that danger was averted. The +only war which broke out between different nations was a brief contest +in the north of Italy, which the superior numbers of the Austrian armies +and the skill of Marshal Radetsky, a veteran who had learned the art of +war under Suvarof nearly sixty years before, decided in favor of +Austria, and which in the spring of 1849 was terminated by a peace on +less unfavorable terms to Sardinia than she could well have expected. +And in the same season tranquillity was re-established even at Rome, +which, from the peculiar character of the Papal power, contained special +elements of provocation and danger. + +But, though peace was thus generally maintained, these various events +had produced a ferment of spirits which required some time to calm down, +and so greatly embarrassed the government, that in the spring of 1852 +Lord John Russell's administration was dissolved, and a new ministry was +formed by Lord Derby[272]. But the causes which had overthrown his +predecessor remained to weaken him; so that for some time it seemed +impossible to form a ministry which afforded any promise of stability. +Such a rapid succession of changes as ensued had had no parallel since +the first years of George III. Between February, 1852, and February, +1855, the country had no fewer than four different Prime-ministers, a +fact which was at once both the proof and the parent of weakness in +every administration. Lord John Russell had attempted to procure a +factitious support in the country by stimulating a fresh demand for +parliamentary reform. A year or two before, he had provoked the +dissatisfaction of the "Advanced Liberals," as they called themselves, +by insisting on the finality of the Reform Bill of 1832, and by advising +his followers "to rest and be thankful" for what had been then obtained. +But now he began to advance an opinion that that act required "some +amendments to carry into more complete effect the principles on which it +was founded." He inserted an intimation of that doctrine in the Queen's +speech; and endeavored to give effect to it by bringing in a bill to +lower the franchise, having, it seems, persuaded himself that a +five-pound franchise would create a more Conservative class of +voters.[273] He had scarcely introduced it when the fall of his ministry +led to its abandonment; but, though it was coldly received by the House +of Commons, the idea was taken up by the other political parties, who +can hardly be acquitted of having used the question merely as an +instrument of party warfare, trying, with an unstatesmanlike +indifference to the danger of re-awakening the old frenzy on the +subject, to rouse the nation to take an interest in it; but trying in +vain. The nation was no longer in the same temper as it had displayed +twenty years before. The Reform Bill of 1832 had been demanded and +carried with a frantic vehemence of enthusiasm such as could only have +been excited by real defects and grievances. But those grievances had +been removed and redressed. And the bulk of the people could take no +interest in schemes whose sole end seemed to be either to satisfy the +theories of some political doctrinaires or to embarrass an adversary; +till at last, as Reform Bill after Reform Bill was framed, brought in, +and defeated, or dropped, it became plain, "as the Prince Consort noted +in a private memorandum at the end of 1859, that what the country +wanted, in fact, was not reform, but a bill to stop the question of +Reform."[274] And, at last, the prevalence of this feeling Lord John +Russell could not conceal even from himself, but confessed to Lord +Palmerston, then Prime-minister, who had always silently discouraged the +movement, that "the apathy of the country was undeniable; nor was it a +transient humor. It seemed rather a confirmed habit of mind. Four Reform +Bills had been introduced of late years by four different governments, +and for not one of them had there been the least enthusiasm. The +conclusion to which he had come was, that the advisers of the crown of +all parties having offered to the country various measures of reform, +and the country having shown itself indifferent to them all, the best +course which could now be taken was to wait till the country should show +a manifest desire for an amendment of the representation."[275] + +There was, however, in these years one subject in which the country did +take a real interest; that was the development and extension of the +principles of free-trade. On that the national view had become so +decided that in 1848 the Parliament even abolished the navigation laws, +which had subsisted so long, the first act on the subject dating from +the reign of Richard II., that the adherence to the principle contained +in them of confining both the export and the import trade of the +kingdom, with but few exceptions, to British shipping, seemed almost an +essential article of the constitution. It was the dearer, too, to the +national prejudices, from the sense universally entertained of the +paramount importance of maintaining the pre-eminence of our navy, and +from the belief that the commercial marine was a nursery for the royal +fleets, with which they could not dispense. But latterly the laws had +become unpopular even with some of those who had formerly been supposed +to derive the greatest benefit from them. Many of our colonies had +complained of their operation, and several of the ablest of our colonial +governors had recommended their repeal. They had been found, too, to +present frequent and considerable difficulties in our commercial +negotiations with other countries, and many naval officers of large +experience and sound judgment expressed a decided belief that they were +of no practical use to the naval service. The result of a long and able +debate was that the laws were repealed, with the exception of that +portion of them which preserved the monopoly of the coasting trade to +our own seamen and vessels, that exception being chiefly dictated by +considerations connected with the prevention of smuggling. + +The ground on which the ministers relied in proposing this repeal of +laws so ancient was that, when protection had been removed from every +other trade, those concerned in these different trades had an +irresistible claim for its removal from the shipping. And on general +principles, both of commerce and statesmanship, the claim was, as they +urged, irresistible, unless some object of greater importance still than +uniformity of legislation--namely, the national safety, bound up as it +unquestionably was in the perpetual pre-eminence of the national +navy--required an exception to be made. But for the maintenance of our +maritime supremacy it was, as Burke had preached three-quarters of a +century before, better to trust to the spirit of the people, to their +attachment to their government, and to their innate aptitude for +seamanship, which they seem to have inherited from the hardy rovers of +the dark ages, and which no other nation shares with them in an equal +degree. And if that may safely be trusted, as undoubtedly it may, to +maintain the supremacy of our warlike fleets, the preponderance of +argument seemed greatly on the side of those who contended that our +commercial fleets needed no such protection; to which it may be added +that exceptions to a general rule and principle are in themselves so +questionable, that the burden of proof seems to lie upon those who would +establish or maintain them. But the advocates of free-trade were not +content even with this triumph, though it might have been thought a +crowning one, and in the course of the next year they succeeded in +carrying a resolution which (though Lord Derby and the opponents of the +act of 1846 were now in office) was not resisted even by the ministry, +being, in fact, the result of a compromise between the different +parties; and which asserted that "the improved condition of the country, +and especially of the industrious classes, was mainly the result of +recent legislation, which had established the principle of unrestricted +competition, ... and that it was the opinion of the House that this +policy, firmly maintained and prudently extended, would, without +inflicting injury on any important interest, best enable the industry of +the country to bear its own burdens, and would thereby most surely +promote the welfare and contentment of the people." Such a resolution +was, in fact, the adoption of free-trade as the permanent ruling +principle of all future commercial legislation. And even before the +adoption of this resolution, the feeling in favor of free-trade had been +greatly strengthened by the Great Exhibition, which not only delighted +the world for six months with a spectacle of such varied and surpassing +beauty as even its original projector, the Prince Consort, had not +pictured to himself, but which had also the farther and more important +effect of instructing the British workman in every branch of +manufacture, by bringing before his eyes the workmanship of other +nations; and, as we may well believe (though such a result is not so +easily tested), of improving the mutual good-will between rival nations, +from the respect for each which the experience of their skill and +usefulness could not fail to excite. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 258: On the 20th of February, 1840, Baron Stockmar writes: +"Melbourne told me that he had already expressed his opinion to the +Prince that the Court ought to take advantage of the present movement to +treat all parties, especially the Tories, in the spirit of a general +amnesty." To the Queen his language was the same: "You should now hold +out the olive-branch a little."--_Life of the Prince Consort_, i., 83.] + +[Footnote 259: He became Prime-minister in September, 1841, and retired +in June, 1846--four years and three-quarters afterward.] + +[Footnote 260: "Life of the Prince Consort," i., 266. It may be remarked +that, in spite of the opinion thus expressed by Sir Robert Peel, of +those who, since his retirement in 1846, have held the same office, the +majority have been members of the House of Commons. The peers who have +since been Prime-ministers have been Lord Aberdeen and Lord Derby; the +members of the House of Commons have been Lord John Russell, Lord +Palmerston, Mr. Disraeli, and Mr. Gladstone; though it may be thought +that in his second ministry Mr. Disraeli showed his concurrence in Sir +Robert Peel's latest view, by becoming a peer in the third year of his +administration.] + +[Footnote 261: Lord Stanhope tells us "the remedial resolutions moved by +Pitt in the House of Commons, as abolishing the old duties and +substituting new ones in a simpler form, amounted in number to no less +than 2537."--_Life of Pitt_, i., 330. Peel, in his speech, March 21, +1842, states that he reduces or takes off altogether (wherever the duty +is trifling, but is practicable) the duty on 750 articles of import.] + +[Footnote 262: In the Commons by 307 to 184; in the Lords by 226 to 69.] + +[Footnote 263: The following statements of the members of colleges and +of the three denominations for 1879, 1874, and 1869 appear in the last +_Queen's University Calendar_: + + 1879. 1874. 1869. +Church of Ireland ....... 201 189 211 +Roman Catholics ....... 223 188 161 +Presbyterians .......... 388 249 227 +Other denominations...... 88 87 83 + --- --- --- + 900 713 682] + +[Footnote 264: In the course of the session, in order to tranquillize +the public mind on the subject, secret committees were appointed by both +Houses of Parliament to investigate the subject, from whose inquiries it +appeared that, since the days when the government was endangered by the +plots of the Jacobites, the power had been very sparingly used. The most +conspicuous instance of its employment had been in the case of Bishop +Atterbury, several of whose letters had been opened, and were produced +in Parliament to justify the bill of "pains and penalties" which was +passed against him. The power had been confined to Great Britain till +the latter part of the last century, when it was judged desirable to +extend it also to the Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. But, since the Peace +of Amiens, the number of letters opened in a year had not, on an +average, exceeded eight; nor was there the least ground for suspecting +that a single one had been opened except on such information as fully +warranted suspicion. + +The practice, however, was not confined to our own government. In the +second volume of the "Life of Bishop Wilberforce" a page is given of his +diary, dated July 18, 1854, which records a conversation in which the +Duke of Newcastle and Lord John Russell took part, and in which it is +mentioned that the French government, under the administration of M. +Guizot, opened letters, and that the practice was not confined to +monarchical or absolute governments, for "the American government opens +most freely all letters." And, with reference to this particular case, +the Duke of Newcastle said that "Sir James Graham really opened +Mazzini's letters on information which led to a belief that a great act +of violence and bloodshed might be prevented by it."--_Life of Bishop +Wilberforce_, ii., 247.] + +[Footnote 265: A subsequent act, passed since the date at which the +present history closes, has repealed even this exception. By the 33d +Victoria, c. 14 ("Law Reports," p. 169), it is enacted that "an alien, +to whom a certificate of naturalization is granted, shall in the United +Kingdom be entitled to all political and other rights, powers, and +privileges, and be subject to all obligations to which a natural born +British subject is entitled as subject in the United Kingdom," etc.; and +at the general election of 1880 the Baron de Ferrieres, a Belgian +nobleman, who had been naturalized in 1867, was elected M.P. for +Cheltenham.] + +[Footnote 266: In one instance--on the question whether twelve should be +the number of hours, as proposed by the Government--the majority against +that number was 186 to 183. But immediately afterward a majority of 188 +to 184 decided against Lord Ashley's alternative proposal of ten hours.] + +[Footnote 267: As President of the Board of Trade. He afterward was +raised to the Peerage as Lord Taunton.] + +[Footnote 268: The second reading was carried in the House of Lords by +49 to 37.] + +[Footnote 269: See "Peel's Memoirs," ii., 173.] + +[Footnote 270: It has been observed that till the Corn-laws were +repealed there had been no instance whatever of any person who had been +engaged in trade becoming a cabinet minister. Since that time there have +been several, some of whom only relinquished their share in houses of +business on receiving their appointments, and some who are generally +understood to have continued to participate in the profits of trade +while members of an administration.] + +[Footnote 271: Alison, quoting the General Report of the Census +Commissioners, estimates the deaths caused by famine and the diseases +engendered by it at the appalling number of 590,000, and states the sums +advanced under different acts of Parliament to meet the emergency at +L7,132,268.--_History of Europe_, vii., 274, 276, 2d series.] + +[Footnote 272: The same statesman who has previously been mentioned as +Lord Stanley, and whom the death of his father had recently raised to +the House of Peers.] + +[Footnote 273: In 1853 he said to Lord Clarendon, speaking of a new bill +which he was pressing on Lord Aberdeen, then Prime-minister, "I am for +making it as Conservative as possible, and that by a large extension of +the suffrage. The Radicals are the ten-pound holders. The five-pound +holders will be Conservative, as they are more easily acted +upon."--_Life of the Prince Consort_, ii., 503. It was the same idea +that inspired some of the details of the Reform Bill subsequently passed +by Lord Derby's third ministry.] + +[Footnote 274: "Life of the Prince Consort," iv., 395.] + +[Footnote 275: "Life of the Prince Consort," v., 56.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Dismissal of Lord Palmerston.--Theory of the Relation between the +Sovereign and the Cabinet.--Correspondence of the Sovereign with French +Princes.--Russian War.--Abolition of the Tax on Newspapers.--Life +Peerages.--Resignation of two Bishops.--Indian Mutiny.--Abolition of the +Sovereign Power of the Company.--Visit of the Prince of Wales to +India.--Conspiracy Bill.--Rise of the Volunteers.--National +Fortifications.--The Lords Reject the Measure for the Repeal of the +Paper-duties.--Lord Palmerston's Resolutions.--Character of the Changes +during the last Century. + + +The frequency of ministerial changes at this time has already been +mentioned, and the first of them took place at the beginning of 1852, +under circumstances which throw some light on a question which has never +been exactly defined--the duty of the different members of a cabinet to +one another, to the Prime-minister, and to the sovereign. + +Queen Victoria had a high idea of her duties and responsibilities. From +any legal responsibility she was aware that she was exempt; but she did +not the less consider that a moral responsibility rested on her not to +be content to give her royal sanction as a mere matter of form to every +scheme or measure which might be submitted to her, but to examine every +case for herself, to form her own opinion, and, if it differed from that +of her ministers, to lay her objections and views fairly before them, +though prepared, as the constitution required, to act on their decision +rather than on her own, if, in spite of her arguments, they adhered to +their judgment. And in carrying out this notion of her duty she was +singularly aided by the Prince, her husband, a man of perfectly upright +character, of great general ability, and who, from the first moment of +his married life, regulated his views of every question, domestic and +foreign, by its bearing on English interests and English feelings, to +which he early acclimatized himself with a remarkable readiness of +appreciation. + +In the administration of Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston was Foreign +Secretary, and during its latter years foreign affairs occupied more of +the attention of the country than matters of domestic policy. + +The revolution of 1848, which overthrew the Orleans dynasty, had +produced in France a state of affairs but little removed from anarchy, +which was scarcely mitigated by the election of Prince Louis Napoleon to +the Presidency of the new republic for four years, so constant was the +opposition which the Republican party in the Assembly offered to every +part of his policy. They even carried their opposition so far as to form +a deliberate plan for the impeachment of his minister and himself, and +for his arrest and imprisonment at Vincennes. But he was well-informed +of all these dangers, and on the morning of the 2d of December, 1851 +(the day, as was commonly believed, having been selected by him as being +the anniversary of his uncle's great victory of Austerlitz), he +anticipated them by the arrest of all the leading malcontents in their +beds; which he followed up by an appeal to the people to adopt a new +constitution which he set before them, the chief article of which was +the appointment of a President for ten years. + +No one could avoid seeing that what was aimed at was the +re-establishment of the Empire in his own person. And so arbitrary a +deed, as was inevitable, produced great excitement in England and +anxious deliberations in the cabinet. Their decision, in strict +uniformity with the principle that rules our conduct toward foreign +nations, was to instruct our ambassador in Paris, Lord Normanby, to +avoid any act or word which could wear the appearance of an act of +interference of any kind in the internal affairs of France. But, on Lord +Normanby reporting these instructions to the French Foreign Secretary, +M. Guizot, he learned, to his surprise and perplexity, that Lord +Palmerston had interfered already by expressing to the French ambassador +in London, M. de Walewski, his warm approval of the President's +conduct;[276] and Lord Normanby, greatly annoyed at being directed to +hold one language in Paris, while the head of his department was taking +a widely different tone in Downing Street--a complication which +inevitably "subjected him to misrepresentation and suspicion"--naturally +complained to the Prime-minister of being placed in so embarrassing a +situation. + +Both the Queen and the Prime-minister had for some time been +discontented at the independent manner in which Lord Palmerston +apparently considered himself entitled to transact the business of his +department, carrying it so far as even to claim a right to send out +despatches without giving them any intimation of either their contents +or their objects. And the Queen, in consequence, above a year +before,[277] had drawn up a memorandum, in which she expressed with +great distinctness her desire to have every step which the Foreign +Secretary might recommend to be taken laid clearly before her, with +sufficient time for consideration, "that she might know distinctly to +what she had given her royal sanction;" and "to be kept informed of what +passed between him and the Foreign Ministers before important decisions +are taken," etc., etc. And, after such an intimation of her wish, she +not unnaturally felt great annoyance at learning that in a transaction +so important as this coup d'etat (to give it the name by which from the +first it was described in every country) Lord Palmerston had taken upon +himself to hold language to the French Ambassador "in complete +contradiction to the line of strict neutrality and passiveness which she +had expressed her desire to see followed with regard to the late +convulsions at Paris, and which was approved by the cabinet."[278] The +Prime-minister seems to have taken the same view of the act, and +remonstrated with Lord Palmerston, who treated the matter very lightly, +and justified his right to hold such a conversation, which he +characterized as "unofficial," in such a tone and on such grounds that +Lord John considered he left him no alternative "but to advise the Queen +to place the Foreign Office in other hands." + +A careful and generally impartial political critic has recently +expressed an opinion "that Lord Palmerston made good his case;"[279] but +his argument on the transaction seems to overlook the most material +point in it. Lord Palmerston's own defence of his conduct was, that "his +conversation with Walewski was of an unofficial description; that he had +said nothing to him which would in any degree or way fetter the action +of the government; and that, if it was to be held that a Secretary of +State could never express any opinion to a foreign minister on passing +events except as the organ of a previously consulted cabinet, there +would be an end of that easy and familiar intercourse which tends +essentially to promote good understanding between ministers and +government;" and he even added, as a personal justification of himself +as against the Prime-minister, that three days afterward Lord John +Russell himself, Lord Lansdowne (the President of the Council), and Sir +Charles Wood (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had all discussed the +transaction with M. de Walewski at a dinner-party, "and their opinions +were, if anything, rather more strongly favorable than his had been." + +This personal aspect of the case it is impossible to discuss, since +there are no means of knowing whether the ministers mentioned would have +admitted the correctness of this report of their language. If it were +confessed to be accurate, it would only show them to have been guilty of +equal impropriety, and to a great extent justify him as against the +Prime-minister, whose condemnation of his language, if he were conscious +that he had held the same himself, would be inexplicable. But it +certainly does not justify him in respect of her Majesty or the cabinet +collectively, since the Queen's complaint was, not that he held +unofficial conversations as a private individual, and not as "the organ +of a previously consulted cabinet," but that the tenor of the +conversation which he had held was in direct contradiction to the tone +which the cabinet had decided should be taken on the subject; that his +language was calculated to draw the government into a course of action +which it had been deliberately resolved to avoid. And, in spite of the +deference due to Lord Palmerston's great experience, it is hard to see +how a conversation between our Foreign Secretary and the French +Ambassador on an action, the result of which is as yet undecided, can be +wholly unofficial, in the sense of having no influence on the conduct of +affairs, or, as he expressed it, "in no degree or way fettering the +action of the government." + +The result was, as has been mentioned before, that the Prime-minister +recommended the removal of Lord Palmerston from his office, and that he +was removed accordingly. And this conclusion of the case seems to show +that the statement of the position of the Prime-minister in the cabinet +is rather understated by Mr. Gladstone in one of his essays,[280] where +he says: "The head of the British government is not a Grand Vizier. He +has no powers, properly so called, over his colleagues; on the rare +occasions when a cabinet determines its course by the votes of its +members, his vote only counts as one of theirs." He admits at the same +time that "they are appointed and dismissed by the sovereign on his +advice." And surely to have the right of giving this advice is to have +the greatest possible power over his colleagues; not power, perhaps, to +change their opinions (though it possibly at times has had power to +prevent the expression of them), but power to compass their immediate +removal from the administration, as was exercised in this instance, and +as had been exercised by Pitt with regard to Lord Thurlow. That a +difference of opinion, even on an important subject, is not always +regarded as a sufficient cause for such a dismissal; that a +Prime-minister, especially if conscious of his strength, occasionally +consents to retain colleagues who differ from him on some one subject, +the same work to which we are partly indebted for our knowledge of the +details of this affair--the "Life of the Prince Consort"--furnishes two +remarkable instances in which the Prime-minister, then Lord Palmerston +himself, submitted to be overruled. We read there that on one occasion, +when "Count Persigny sought the active intervention of England by the +way of 'moral support' to a demand" which France proposed to address to +Austria, "Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell (then Foreign Secretary) +were disposed to accede; but a different view was taken both by her +Majesty and by the cabinet, and Count Persigny's request was accordingly +declined."[281] On this occasion, it is true, he was yielding to an +overwhelming majority of his colleagues (her Majesty's approval must, of +course, have been expressed subsequently to their decision). But in +another instance we find the same Prime-minister consenting to the +introduction of a bill by one of his colleagues, Mr. Gladstone, then +Chancellor of the Exchequer, of which he disapproved so highly that, +after it had been passed by a very slender majority of the House of +Commons,[282] he expressed to the Queen a hope that the closeness of the +division "might encourage the House of Lords to throw out the bill when +it should come to their House, and that he was bound in duty to say +that, if they should do so, they would perform a good public service;" +and after they had rejected it by a majority of eighty-nine, he +pronounced that "they had done a right and useful thing," reporting to +her Majesty, as a corroboration of this opinion, and as a proof that it +was largely shared by the public out-of-doors, that "the people in the +gallery of the House of Lords are said to have joined in the cheers +which broke out when the numbers of the division were announced."[283] +And on a third occasion also he bore with the same colleague's +opposition to a measure which he and all the rest of the cabinet justly +thought of vital importance to the best interests of the country, the +fortification of our great seaports, allowing him to object for a time +in private, and even to threaten public opposition to it the next year, +since he felt assured that his opposition, if carried out, which he +doubted, would be wholly ineffectual.[284] + +The personal interest in politics which this laudable habit of judging +of everything for herself naturally engendered in the Queen's mind led, +however, to the adoption by her Majesty, in more than one instance, of a +course at variance not only with all historical precedent, but, with +deference be it said, with constitutional principle, sanctioned though +it was by more than one ministry. When the First Napoleon, after his +elevation to the head of the French government as First Consul, +proposed, by an autograph letter to George III., to treat with that +sovereign for the conclusion of peace between the two nations, Pitt, to +whom his Majesty communicated the letter, had no difficulty in deciding +that it would be unseasonable for the King "to depart from the forms +long established in Europe for transacting business with foreign +states,"[285] and, under his guidance, the cabinet instructed Lord +Grenville, as Foreign Secretary, to address the reply to the First +Consul's letter to the French Foreign Secretary, M. de Talleyrand. + +But this reign has witnessed several departures from the old and +convenient rule. Its violation was not begun by her Majesty, but by the +Emperor Nicholas of Russia in the year preceding the Crimean war. He +wrote to the Queen herself to discuss some of the points in dispute, and +she answered his letter with her own hand.[286] The outbreak of war +which soon ensued prevented any continuation of that correspondence; but +the close alliance which that war for a time produced between England +and France, strengthened as it was by an interchange of visits between +the royal and imperial families, which led to the establishment of a +strong mutual friendliness and regard, led also to an occasional +interchange of letters on some of the gravest questions affecting the +policy of the two nations. The correspondence was sanctioned by +successive English cabinets, every letter which the Queen either +received from, or sent to, any foreign prince on political affairs being +invariably communicated by her either to the Prime-minister or to the +Foreign Secretary; and they, in one instance, even suggesting to her +Majesty to write to Louis Napoleon[287] with an object so delicate as +that of influencing the language with which he was about to open his +Chambers. + +But we must think the line recommended by Pitt to George III. both more +constitutional and more safe. A letter from one sovereign to another on +political subjects cannot be divested of the character of a state-paper, +and for every state-paper some one must be responsible. The sovereign +cannot be, but for every one of his actions the ministers are. And it +follows, therefore, that they are thus made responsible for documents of +which they have not been the original authors; of which, were it not for +the courtesy of the sovereign, they might by possibility be wholly +ignorant; and with parts of which, even with the knowledge which that +courtesy has afforded them, they may not fully coincide, since they +could hardly venture to subject a composition of their royal mistress to +a vigorous criticism. Such a correspondence, therefore, places them so +far in a false position, and it runs the risk of placing the sovereign +himself in one equally false and unpleasant, since, if the opinions +expressed or the advice given fail of their effect, the adviser is so +far lowered in the eyes of his correspondent and of the world. + +As has been incidentally mentioned, in the spring of 1854 war broke out +with Russia, nominally on account of the Sultan's refusal to concede +some of the Czar's demands concerning the condition of the Greek Church +in Palestine, but more really because, believing the Turkish empire to +be in the last stage of decay, he hoped by hastening its destruction to +obtain the lion's share of its spoils. And for the first time for two +centuries an English and French army stood together in a field of battle +as allies. In the field our armies were invariably victorious, +inflicting severe defeats on the enemy at Alma and Inkerman, and +wresting from them the mighty fortress of Sebastopol, in the Crimea, +which hitherto they had believed to be absolutely impregnable. Our fleet +was, if possible, still more triumphant, destroying Bomarsund and +Sweaborg, in the Baltic, without the Russian ships daring to fire a +single gun in their defence, while their Black Sea fleet was even sunk +by its own admiral, as the only expedient to save it from capture. And +in the spring of 1856 the war was terminated by a treaty of peace, in +which, for the first time since the days of Peter the Great, Russia was +compelled to submit to a cession of territory. But (it may almost be +said) to the credit of the nation these successes, glorious and +substantial as they were, made at the time scarcely so great an +impression on the people as the hardships which, in the first winter of +the war, our troops suffered from the defective organization of our +commissariat. Want of shelter and want of food proved more destructive +than the Russian cannon; presently our gallant soldiers were reported to +be perishing by hundreds for lack of common necessaries; and the news +awakened so clamorous a discontent throughout the whole of the United +Kingdom as led to another change of ministry, and Lord Aberdeen was +succeeded by Lord Palmerston. While a war on so large a scale was being +waged there was but little time to spare for the work of the legislator, +though it is not foreign to our subject to relate that in 1855 the last +of those taxes which the political economists denounced as taxes on +knowledge, the tax on newspapers, was abolished. Originally it had been +fourpence; in 1836 Mr. Spring Rice, Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord +Melbourne's ministry, had reduced it to a penny; and now, with a very +general acquiescence, it was abolished altogether. + +The entire abolition of a tax is not properly to be called a financial +measure, that epithet belonging rather to those which aim at an +augmentation of revenue by an increase in the number of contributors to +a tax, while lessening the amount paid by each. But the abandonment of +the tax in question should rather be regarded as a sacrifice of revenue +for the instruction of the people in political knowledge; a price paid +to enable and induce the poorer classes to take a well-instructed +interest in the affairs of the state and the general condition of the +country. And, viewed in this light, the abolition of this tax must be +allowed to have been a political measure of great importance, and to +have contributed greatly to the end which was aimed at. Till 1836 a +daily paper, costing sevenpence, was the luxury of the few; and the sale +even of those which had the largest circulation was necessarily limited. +But the removal of the tax at once gave birth to a host of penny +newspapers, conducted for the most part with great ability, and soon +attaining a circulation which reached down to all but the very poorest +class; so that the working-man has now an opportunity of seeing the most +important questions of the day discussed from every point of view, and +of thus acquiring information and forming a judgment on them which the +subsequent extension of the franchise makes it more than ever desirable +that he should be able to form for himself. Every movement in that +direction renders it the more necessary to raise the intelligence of the +great mass of the people to a level which may enable them to make a safe +and salutary use of the power placed in their hands. And no mode of +implanting a wholesome political feeling in the masses can equal candid +political discussion: discussion one ruling principle of which shall be +to teach that the greatest differences of opinion may be honestly +entertained; that, with scarcely an exception, the leading men of each +party, those who have any title to the name of statesman, are animated +with an honest, patriotic desire to promote the best interests of the +nation; and that the elucidation of truth is not aided by unreasoning +invective and the undeserved imputation of base motives. + +One of the last topics discussed by Mr. Hallam was the introduction of a +bill to limit for the future the prerogative of the crown in a field in +which its exercise had previously been unrestrained, the creation of +peers;[288] and among the last which we shall have to examine was one of +an exactly opposite character, though relating to the same subject, the +creation of a life peerage. In the winter of 1855 Sir James Parke, one +of the Barons of the Exchequer, was created Lord Wenslydale, by +letters-patent which conferred the title limiting it also to the new +peer's own life. The professed object of the measure was to strengthen +the judicial power of the House of Lords. But it was not denied that the +limitation of the peerage conferred on him for his own life (a +limitation which made no practical difference to Sir James himself, +since he had no children) was intended to raise the question whether the +crown could or could not create a life peerage with a seat in the House +of Lords. A creation so limited was so novel, or at all events so long +disused a proceeding, that it inevitably provoked examination and +discussion. And, as it was found that the lawyers in general regarded it +as indefensible, at the beginning of the session of 1856 Lord Lyndhurst +brought the matter before the House of Lords by a motion for the +appointment of a committee of privileges to investigate and report upon +it. There were two aspects of the case which naturally came to be +considered in the debates on it which ensued: the advantages or +disadvantages, in other words, the political expediency, of such a form +of letters-patent, and their legal or constitutional propriety. It was, +of course, with the latter alone that the committee of privileges had to +deal. And this part of the question was examined with great legal and +antiquarian learning, though, as was almost inevitable, it was argued as +a party question, except, indeed, by the lawyers. They, with the +exception of the Chancellor, Lord Cranworth, who had advised the +measure, were unanimous in their condemnation of it; the Whig peers, +Lord Brougham and Lord Campbell, then Chief-justice, being as positive +in their denial of the right so to exercise the prerogative as those on +the Opposition side of the House, Lord Lyndhurst or Lord St. +Leonards.[289] + +The arguments against the measure were chiefly these: The objectors drew +a distinction between what was legal according to the strict letter of +the law, and what was constitutional; contending that there might be +exercises of the prerogative which could not be affirmed to be illegal, +but which no one would deny to be altogether inconsistent with the +principles and practice of the constitution, since a great part of the +constitution rested on unwritten law, on long-continued usage, _Lex et +consuetudo Parliamenti_. And they affirmed that this measure was so +opposed to that usage, that "no instance had occurred within a period of +four hundred years in which a commoner had been raised to a seat in the +House of Lords by a patent of peerage containing only an estate for +life;"[290] one most essential, if not the most essential character of +the peerage being that it was an hereditary dignity, and one which +combined with its rank an hereditary seat in the House of Lords. That +one or two instances of life peerages were to be found in the annals of +the Plantagenet kings was not denied, though none exactly similar in +character.[291] But Lord Lyndhurst argued that precedents which had +occurred "at a time when the constitution of the country was neither +understood nor fully formed" were entitled to but little respect; and +Lord Derby, limiting the age of valid precedents a little more strictly, +"said frankly that he had no respect for any precedent affecting the +prerogatives of the crown that dated farther back than the year 1688." +And since that time, or indeed since the time of Henry VIII., it was +certain that no life peerage had ever been granted, except by Charles +II., James II., and George I. and II., to some of their mistresses, +instances wholly beside the present case, since, of course, none of +those ladies could claim seats in the House of Lords. Indeed, it was +believed that both Mr. Pitt, at the time of the Union, and Lord Grey, in +1832, had considered the question, and had both decided against the +propriety of advising a creation of life peerages. + +In defence of the measure Lord Granville refused to admit the +distinction between what was legal and what was constitutional; if a +measure were both legal, that is, warranted by the letter of the law, +and also expedient, these two concurrent qualities, he contended, made +it constitutional. He denied, also, that any legal prerogatives of the +crown could be held to have lapsed through disuse; _nullum tempus +occurrit Regi_; and he challenged any peer to assert that the sovereign +had lost the right of refusing his royal assent to a measure passed by +the two Houses, merely because no sovereign since William III. had so +exercised his royal prerogative. And against the authority of Mr. Pitt +and Lord Grey he quoted that of Lord John Russell, who, in 1851, had +offered a life peerage to an eminent judge, who, though he had declined +the offer, had been influenced in his refusal by no doubt of the right +of the crown to make it. + +On the expediency of the measure its opponents had urged that it would +effect a remodelling of the House of Peers, a total change of its +constitution, by the introduction of a second and distinct class of +peerages; and Lord Campbell, with a not unbecoming jealousy for what he +regarded as the interests of his brother lawyers, argued that it would +"henceforth prevent any lawyer, however eminent he might have been as an +advocate, whatever services he might have rendered to the state in the +House of Commons, whatever fame or fortune he might have acquired, from +aspiring to an hereditary peerage, or to becoming the founder of a +family, since, to make a distinction between the Chancellor and the +Chief-justice, between one Chancellor or Chief-justice and another, when +coming into the Upper House, as to the tenure of their honors, would be +intolerable; all must be under the same rule, 'no son of theirs +succeeding.'" And Lord Lyndhurst closed his argument by drawing a +comparison between the House of Lords and the French Senate: "It was but +a few weeks since he had read an official comment in the _Moniteur_, +coming from the highest source, on the inefficiency, the want of +patriotism, energy, and the backwardness to fulfil the high destinies to +which they were called, that characterized that illustrious body, the +Senate of France. He had no disposition to cut down our tribunal to that +life interest on which the Senate of France is based, as he believed the +hereditary character of the House of Lords to be one from which great +and important advantages are derived.... The hereditary principle," he +added, "is intwined in every part of our constitution; we in this House +enjoy our hereditary rights in common with the crown; we mutually +support and assist each other, and we form a barrier and defence to +protect both those branches of the constitution against any by whom they +may be assailed." + +As Lord Granville had made the expediency of any measure the quality +which, combined with legality, was sufficient to establish its +constitutional character, he naturally labored this point with especial +diligence. He dwelt upon the great importance of strengthening the +judicial element in the House, since it was the great ultimate court of +appeal. He produced a letter of the great Chancellor, Lord Eldon, which +quoted instances in which various administrations had found difficulties +in the way of introducing eminent lawyers into the House, because their +want of adequate fortune to support the rank had disinclined them to +encumber their descendants with an hereditary peerage. He showed also +that that difficulty had made so great an impression on their own +Chairman of Committees, Lord Redesdale, that on one occasion he had +intimated a feeling in favor of allowing "the Law, in the same way as +the Church, to be, to a certain extent, represented in the House by the +holders of certain offices, who should be admitted to that House as +Peers of Parliament during the continuance of holding such office" (to +which argument Earl Grey added another, that the instance of bishops, +who were but life peers, proved that the holders of life peerages were +not considered inferior to hereditary peers). + +He dwelt, too, on the evil consequence of the Lords "placing themselves +before the country as seeking to limit the prerogative of the crown, +when that prerogative was exercised with a view to remedy something that +was weak, and to remove a certain imminent danger." What the danger was +he certainly did not explain. But Lord Grey, in supporting him, took +wider ground, and, applying the argument derived from Lord Eldon's +letter to other professions, extolled the idea of instituting life +peerages as one whose effect would be "more easily to open the doors of +the House to men whom it was desirable should be admitted--to +distinguished officers; to eminent writers; to members of the House of +Commons, who in their different lines might have rendered good service +to the state, but who, though possessing means amply sufficient to +support their rank during their own life, yet, from having only a life +income, or a numerous family to be provided for, might be unable to +accept an hereditary peerage without injury to their family. In such +instances," he contended, "it would be most desirable to grant peerages +for life only. Such a proceeding would, he was convinced, by no means +disincline others in different circumstances to accept hereditary +titles, nor indispose the ministry to confer them. Nor did he see any +reason for fearing that the practice of creating life peerages would be +more likely to be abused for the purpose of increasing the power of the +minister than the creation of hereditary peerages." + +The committee of privileges was appointed, and reported it as the +opinion of the members that "neither the letters-patent by themselves, +or with, the addition of the usual writ of summons, could entitle the +grantee to sit and vote in Parliament." And the House, by a majority of +ninety-two to fifty-seven, adopted their report. The ministers yielded +to its judgment, and ennobled Lord Wenslydale by a new patent in the +usual form, as Lord Derby had suggested. But Lord Derby desired to show +that his objection had been founded on principle only; and, as he was +willing to admit that, apart from the principle involved, "some +advantages in certain cases, and under certain modifications, might +arise from peerages for life," he proposed the appointment of a select +committee "to consider the expediency of making provision for the more +efficient discharge of the duties of the House as a court of appeal." +The committee was appointed, and, after careful consideration, +recommended the creation of two new offices, to be held by two law +lords, as "Deputy Speakers of the House of Lords," who should be judges +of at least five years' standing, and should be enabled "by authority of +Parliament to sit and vote in the House, and enjoy all the rights and +privileges of a peer of Parliament under a patent conferring a peerage +for life only, if the crown may have granted or shall grant the same to +such persons in preference to an hereditary peerage, provided always +that not more than four persons shall have seats in the House at one +time as peers for life." Such an arrangement would have introduced a new +practice, but not a new principle, since the annexation of a seat in the +House of Lords to certain offices had existed from time immemorial in +the case of the bishops. And the bill was carried in the House of Lords, +but defeated in the Commons by a motion to refer it to a committee, +which was adopted by a small majority, in a not very full House,[292] +toward the end of the session. + +Those who look at the question apart from all preference of one minister +or one party to another will, probably, be of opinion that the decision +of the committee, that a life peerage thus created by the crown could +not confer a seat in Parliament, was conformable to the most legitimate +view of the constitution. It was, indeed, matter of history that in the +Middle Ages the crown had exercised its prerogative in many ways which +it had since abandoned. Boroughs had been enfranchised, and again +disfranchised, apparently from no motive but pure caprice; writs of +summons had been withheld from peers.[293] But no one would have +justified the repetition of such acts now. And common-sense, as well as +recognized usage, favored the doctrine that long disuse was a sufficient +and lawful barrier against their revival. That the power of conferring +life peerages with a seat in Parliament--of which, perhaps, the only +undeniable instances were the cases of the brothers of Henry V., whose +royal blood would in those days, probably, have been held to warrant an +exception in their favor--had not been exercised for full four hundred +years, was admitted; and the assumption that so long a disuse of a power +was tantamount to a tacit renunciation of it, is quite compatible with a +loyal and due zeal for the maintenance of other parts of the prerogative +which have suffered no such abatement. + +If, however, we consider the expediency of the measure, or, in other +words, the possible advantage that might ensue from the existence of a +power to create life peerages with a seat in Parliament, opinions will +probably be more divided. We have seen that Lord Derby allowed that +there might be advantages in such an exercise of power under certain +limitations; and the existing system does, undoubtedly, appear open to +improvement in certain cases. At present the only mode of rewarding +naval or military commanders who have performed brilliant and useful +service, or a Speaker of the House of Commons, whose public career, +though less showy and glorious, may at times have been scarcely less +valuable, and has certainly been by far more irksome, is the grant of a +peerage with a pension for lives. Without the peerage they cannot have +the pension.[294] And, consequently, many most distinguished officers, +whose conspicuous merits well deserved conspicuous honors, have gone +unrewarded except by some promotion of knighthood, which carries with it +no substantial benefit; while the descendants of some of those who have +been ennobled have openly lamented that the only mode which could be +found of honoring their fathers proves a punishment to their heirs, by +encumbering them with an empty title, which they are unable adequately +to support, and practically closing against them avenues to possible +wealth and distinction which custom pronounces derogatory to their rank. +So, not to mention the names of living worthies, no reward could be +found for Sir W. Parker, that brave and skilful seaman who conducted a +British fleet two hundred miles up a Chinese river, and crowned his +exploits by the capture of a mighty city, which had never before beheld +a European flag; nor for Inglis, who, when the safety of our Indian +Empire hung upon his gallantry, successfully sustained a siege whose +hardships and dangers are surpassed by none in ancient or modern +history. Many will, probably, be of opinion that it is not for the honor +of England that such services should want due recognition; and that for +men like those life peerages with liberal pensions would be an +appropriate recompense. It would, of course, be impossible to limit the +number of them beforehand, but it would also be needless, since the +nature of the services by which alone they could be deserved would act +of itself as a sufficient limitation. + +One of the expedients which had been mentioned in this discussion had +been the annexation of peerages to certain offices, to which it had been +regarded as an unanswerable objection that this would be the creation of +an absolutely unheard-of tenure, the peer thus created being able at +pleasure to lay down his peerage, or even, it might be, being removable. +But before the end of the session an emergency arose which induced +Parliament to sanction the principle, novel though it was, that an +official peerage, if a bishopric may be so called, might be laid down +with the sanction of Parliament when the holder was no longer able to +discharge its duties. Two of the most eminent members of the Episcopal +bench, Dr. Blomfield, Bishop of London, and Dr. Maltby, Bishop of +Durham, had become wholly incapable of discharging their duties, the one +having been struck down by paralysis, and the other being almost blind. +And they now proposed to the Prime-minister that he should make some +arrangement by which they might be allowed to relinquish their offices, +retaining a certain portion of the income of their sees as a retiring +pension. There was no precedent for such an arrangement, but the +necessity of the two cases was so manifest, the injury which the Church +must suffer if the superintendence of two such important dioceses were +to be neglected, was so palpable, and the conditions of the retiring +pensions asked were so moderate and equitable, that Lord Palmerston had +no hesitation in sanctioning the introduction of a bill to give effect +to the arrangement proposed. + +It did not pass without vigorous resistance from more than one quarter. +The Bishop of Exeter complained of it as incompatible with the great +Church principle, that a bishop could only resign his office to the +archbishop of his province; others opposed it as a violation of the +common law, which forbids any bargain being made for the resignation of +an office; while some, referring to the prohibition of simony (a word, +perhaps, as much misunderstood and as often misapplied as any in the +language), denounced the arrangement that the retiring prelates were to +have pensions as simoniacal.[295] The most reasonable objection made to +the proceeding was, that such exceptional legislation to meet an +isolated case tended to establish a dangerous precedent, and that, as +there were other men of great age on the bench, it would be better to +effect the end now aimed at by a large general measure providing means +for the retirement of all clergymen, those of inferior rank as well as +bishops, whom age or infirmity might incapacitate. But the general +feeling was against delay. The bill passed, and served in some degree as +a model for that general measure which was soon afterward introduced, +and which, as was suggested on this occasion, provided for an +arrangement similar in principle being carried out whenever a priest +holding any kind of ecclesiastical preferment should become disabled for +the performance of its duties. + +There can be no doubt that such legislation was absolutely necessary in +the interests of the Church, taking that expression to include, not the +clergy alone, but the whole congregation of Churchmen. But it introduced +a remarkable change into the system of ecclesiastical peerages, and, so +far, into the constitution of the House of Lords. What was resigned by +the two prelates was not the peerage (they had still the right to be +styled "my lord"), but the seat in the House of Lords, which was a part, +and which had hitherto been regarded as an inseparable part of it, or, +at least (as it should, perhaps, rather be said, since the recent +regulation that the junior bishop should not have a seat was a clear +violation of that principle), which hitherto no one had been able to +dissociate from the peerage after it had been once enjoyed. + +The treaties which terminated the war with Russia were not concluded +till the spring of 1856; and it was well, indeed, that the country had +no longer a foreign war on her hands, for a twelvemonth had scarcely +elapsed when the very continuation of her existence as a great Eastern +power was suddenly imperilled by what, regarded in one aspect, was a +mutiny of her troops on a most extensive scale; in another, a civil war, +waged by a combination of native princes, Hindoo as well as +Mohammedan,[296] for the total extinction of our power, and the +expulsion of the British race from Bengal. As early as the first week of +February several commanders of regiments and other authorities received +warnings of the organization of a wide conspiracy against our power; and +in the second week of May the troops at Meerut broke into open mutiny, +set fire to the public buildings, murdered their officers, and even +their wives and children, and then marched off to Delhi, where the +garrison was prepared to receive them with open arms, and to imitate +their atrocities. The contagion spread, and in a few weeks nearly all +Bengal was in arms. In one or two instances the native chiefs stood by +us, but the greater number joined the insurgents, some from the desire +to throw off our yoke, but others, probably, from constraint and through +fear. Whatever were their motives, before the end of June nearly all the +principal cities and fortresses of Bengal, up to the very gates of +Calcutta, were in the hands of the insurgents, the chief exception being +at the great city of Lucknow, where, though the mutineers got possession +of the city, a British garrison held the Residency, in the centre; and, +maintaining themselves with heroic fortitude, unsurpassed in all the +history of war, for nearly nine months, contributed more than any other +body of men to the final suppression of the revolt. It would be beside +our purpose here to dwell upon the great deeds by which in that terrible +year our army, in all its branches, maintained its old renown; upon the +recapture of Delhi; the deliverance of the incomparable defenders and +preservers of Lucknow; the exploits of Lawrence, and Inglis, and +Havelock, and Outram, and Peel, and Campbell; and, if we are forced to +deny ourselves the proud gratification of dwelling on their combined +heroism and wisdom, we may for the same reason be spared the pain of +recounting the horrid cruelties wreaked in too many instances not only +on the officers who fell into the rebels' hands, and on the civil +magistrates, but on the helpless women and children. In the first +excitement of fear and horror those cruelties were, no doubt, greatly +exaggerated, but still enough remains proved to stamp the insurrection +as one branding with the foulest disgrace the race which perpetrated and +exulted in them. + +It was not till the last week of 1858 that the last sparks of rebellion +were finally extinguished by the defeat in Oude of the last body of +rebels who remained in arms, and the flight of the remnant of their +force across the frontier of Nepaul; but, even before that day came, the +ministry at home had been led to see the necessity of putting the +government of the country for the future on a different footing. It +could hardly be doubted that the prompt suppression of a revolt of so +unprecedented a magnitude, and the proof given in the course of our +operations that the British soldier still maintained the same +superiority over the native trooper as in the days of Clive, had +heightened our reputation and the belief of our power among the native +tribes. But, speedily and decisively crushed though it had been, the +revolt had given too terrible a proof of the inconstancy and treachery +of the native tribes not to act as a warning to our statesmen; and the +reflection that was thus forced upon them showed that a company of +merchants, however distinguished by general courage and sagacity they +had shown themselves, was no longer qualified to exercise imperial +dominion over a territory which now extended over more than a million of +square miles, and more than a hundred and fifty millions of native +subjects. + +Accordingly, in the first week of the session of 1858, Lord Palmerston, +as Prime-minister, introduced a bill to transfer the government of +British India from the East India Company to the crown. It was natural +that the principle of such a measure should be opposed by the Directors +of the Company, though it was supported by more than one person who had +held high civil office in India; and equally natural that the +arrangement of its details should call forth a minute and rigorous +examination, and on many points a very determined opposition. We need +not, however, say more about this bill, since circumstances prevented +its being proceeded with; and the history of those which succeeded it is +now only worth referring to as showing the extreme difficulty of the +task of framing a government on new principles for a dependency of such +vast magnitude and importance.[297] + +Lord Palmerston's bill was dropped, in consequence of the fall of his +ministry, before the time came for its second reading; but the +discussion on it had to some extent smoothed the way for that of his +successor, Lord Derby. A great impression on the Parliament, and on the +country in general, had been made by a very able speech of Sir G.C. +Lewis, Chancellor of the Exchequer. He traced the whole history of the +Indian government from the day of Plassy, and substantiated the right of +the home government and Parliament to remodel it as they might judge +best, by proving that ever since the passing of Pitt's first bill, in +1784, the Company had been constantly subject to Parliamentary control. +He showed, too, most convincingly, that a petition which the Company had +presented to the House of Commons, deprecating any change in the +existing system which should tend to diminish the authority of the +Directors, was based on one great fallacy--speaking, as it did, of the +Company as one and indivisible, and unchanged in character, functions, +and influence, down to the date of the last renewal of its charter, only +five years previously; whereas the truth was, that in the one hundred +years since Plassy the system had undergone as many changes as the +English constitution between the Heptarchy and the reign of Queen +Victoria. + +He had thus removed some of the obstacles out of the way of the measure +of the new government, though Lord Derby would have preferred postponing +it till tranquillity should have been restored to the country by the +complete suppression of the revolt, had not the large majority[298] +which had sanctioned the introduction of Lord Palmerston's bill, in his +opinion, "placed the Company in such a situation that they could no +longer command the same amount of public confidence and public support +as they were entitled to receive previously to that vote of the House of +Commons." It may be added that the first bill on the subject which was +introduced by his government bore evident marks of the difficulties +under which it was framed--difficulties existing from the unexpected +suddenness of his accession to office; so that, after a not very short +discussion, it was eventually withdrawn, and it was not till the end of +June that the measure which was finally adopted was introduced. + +The leading enactments of the measure[299] provided that for the future +the government of India, described as having been hitherto vested in, or +exercised by, the Company in trust for her Majesty, should be vested in +her Majesty, and exercised in her name; that one of her Majesty's +principal Secretaries of State should have and perform all such powers +and duties relating to the government or revenues of India as had +formerly belonged to the Court of Directors, as the Court of Proprietors +of the Company; that a Council of the Governor-general should be +established, consisting of fifteen members, seven of whom should be +appointed by the Court of Directors, being persons who were, or had +formerly been, Directors of the Company, and eight should be nominated +by the crown. And as to both classes, it was provided that the majority +should consist of persons who had served or resided in India for ten +years at the least, and should not have left India more than ten years +when appointed. They were to hold their offices during good behavior, to +receive salaries, and to be entitled to retiring pensions, but to be +incapable of sitting in Parliament. The appointment of Governor-general +and Governor of each Presidency was to belong to the crown. The +expenditure of the revenues of India, both in India and elsewhere, was +to be subject to the control of the Secretary of State in Council; other +clauses provided for the dividends of the Company, for the admission of +persons into the civil service; and, with reference to existing +establishments, one clause provided that "the Indian military and naval +forces should remain under existing conditions of service." + +This last clause was strongly objected to by the Queen,[300] as +"inconsistent with her constitutional position as head of the army, +which required that the Commander-in-chief should be put in +communication with the new Secretary of State for India, in the same +manner in which he is placed with regard to the troops at home or in the +colonies toward the Secretary of State for War.... With regard to the +whole army, whether English or Indian, there could, with due regard to +the public interest, be only one head and one general command." She +yielded her opinion, however, to the resolute objections of the +Prime-minister, with whom on this point his predecessor,[301] Lord +Palmerston, agreed; but the result proved the superior soundness of her +Majesty's view. It was not only a most anomalous arrangement, since the +supreme control of all the warlike forces was one of the most +inalienable prerogatives of the crown, but it had the strange fault of +preserving the double government in the case in which, above all others, +unity of system and unity of command were most indispensable. And, what +weighed more than either consideration with the generally practical +views of English statesmen, it was from the beginning found to work +badly, creating, as it did, great and mischievous jealousies between the +two divisions, the Royal and the Indian army. It was found that all the +generals then in the highest commands in India--Lord Clyde (Sir Colin +Campbell having been ennobled by that title), Sir Hugh Rose, and Sir +William Mansfield--strongly disapproved of it, and recommended a change; +and consequently, in the summer of 1860, Lord Palmerston, who in the +mean while had returned to the Treasury, came round to the Queen's view +of the subject, and a new act was passed which amalgamated the two +armies into one Imperial army, taking its turn of duty throughout all +parts of the British empire.[302] + +A letter addressed by Lord Palmerston to the Queen in the autumn of +1857, which appears to have been his first statement to her Majesty of +the opinion which he had formed of the necessity of abolishing the +governing authority of the Company, states the principal arguments in +favor of such a measure with great clearness, as arising from "the +inconvenience and difficulty of administering the government of a vast +country on the other side of the globe by means of two cabinets, the one +responsible to the crown and Parliament, the other only responsible to +the holders of Indian stock, meeting for a few hours three or four times +a year, which had been shown by the events of the year to be no longer +tolerable." His disapproval of parts of Lord Ellenborough's policy +probably prevented him from alluding to his recall from India by the +Directors, in direct defiance of the opinion of the government,[303] +though that strange step can hardly have been absent from his mind. But, +in fact, the case for taking the whole rule of so vast a dominion wholly +into the hands of the Queen's government at home was so irresistible, +that it did not require to be strengthened by reference to any +individual instances of inconvenience. When the double government was +originally established, the English in India were still but a small +mercantile community, with very little territory beyond that in the +immediate neighborhood of its three chief cities. Of the conduct of the +affairs of such a body, still almost confined to commerce, the chief +share might not unreasonably be left to the merchants themselves, +subject to such supervision on the part of the government at home as was +implied in the very name of the department invested with that +supervision, the Board of Control, which, as Pitt explained the name, +was meant to show that it was not to be, like the measure proposed by +the Coalition Ministry, a board of political influence.[304] But the +case was wholly altered when British India reached from Point de Galle +to the Himalayas, and spread beyond the Ganges on the east, to beyond +the Indus on the west; when the policy adopted in India often influenced +our dealings with European states, and when the force required for the +protection of those vast interests exceeded the numbers of the royal +army. India, too, is a country the climate of which prevents our +countrymen from emigrating to it as settlers, as they do to Canada or +Australia, and where, consequently, the English residents are, and +always must be, a mere handful in comparison with the millions of +natives. In such a case their government must at all times rest mainly +on opinion, on the belief in the pre-eminent power of the ruler; and it +was obvious that that belief would be greatly fortified by the sovereign +of Britain becoming that ruler.[305] The great rajahs cordially +recognized the value of the transfer of power considered in this light, +and felt their own dignity enhanced by becoming the vassals of the +sovereign herself. + +Turning to French affairs, a brilliant French writer has remarked, that +his countrymen are, of all peoples, the least suited to be conspirators, +since none of them can ever keep a secret. But it was the ill-fortune of +Louis Napoleon that he had provoked enmities, not only among his own +countrymen, but among the republican fanatics of other nations also, who +saw in his zeal for absolute authority the greatest obstacle to their +designs, which aimed at the overthrow of every established government on +the Continent, and shrunk from no crimes which they conceived to be +calculated to promote their object. To free themselves from such an +antagonist, the most wholesale murders seemed by no means too large a +price. And in the middle of January, as the Emperor and Empress were +going to the Opera, a prodigious explosion took place almost beneath the +wheels of their carriage, from the effect of which they themselves had a +most narrow escape, both being struck in the face by splinters, the +aide-de-camp in their carriage also being severely wounded on the head; +while their escort and attendants were struck down on all sides, ten +being killed and above one hundred and fifty wounded.[306] It was soon +found out that the authors of this atrocious crime were four Italians, +of whom a man named Orsini was the chief, and that he, who had but +recently escaped from a prison in Mantua, had fled from that town to +England, and had there concocted all the details of his plot, and had +procured the shells which had been his instruments. + +It was not unnatural that so atrocious a crime, causing such wide-spread +destruction, should awaken great excitement in France, and in many +quarters violent reclamations against England and her laws, which +enabled foreign plotters to make her a starting-place for their +nefarious schemes. Even in the French Chambers very bitter language was +used on the subject by some of the most influential Deputies, for which +our ministers were disposed to make allowance, Lord Clarendon, the +Foreign Secretary, writing to the Prince Consort that "it was not to be +expected that foreigners, who see that assassins go and come here as +they please, and that conspiracies may be hatched in England with +impunity, should think our laws and policy friendly to other countries, +or appreciate the extreme difficulty of making any change in our +system."[307] + +But a different feeling was roused by a despatch of the French Secretary +of State to the ambassador here, which seemed to impute to this country +that it deliberately sheltered and countenanced men by whose writings +"assassination was elevated into a doctrine openly preached, and carried +into practice by reiterated attacks" upon the person of the French +sovereign, and asked, in language which had rather an imperious tone, +"Ought the English Legislature to contribute to the designs of men who +were not mere fugitives, but assassins, and continue to shelter persons +who place themselves beyond the pale of common right, and under the ban +of humanity? Her Britannic Majesty's Government can assist us in +averting a repetition of such guilty enterprises, by affording us a +guarantee of security which no state can refuse to a neighboring state, +and which we are justified in expecting from an ally. Fully relying, +moreover, on the profound sagacity of the English Cabinet, we refrain +from indicating in any way the measures which it may seem fit to take in +order to comply with this wish. We confidently leave it to decide on the +course which it shall deem best fitted to the end in view." Still, +though the charge that our Legislature contributed to the designs of +assassins was some departure from the measured language more usual in +diplomatic communications between friendly powers, under the +circumstances this remonstrance might have been borne with. Unluckily, +it was not all, nor the worst, that we were called upon to bear. A few +days afterward some addresses to the Emperor from different military +corps were published in the _Moniteur_, which not only poured forth +bitter reproaches against the whole English nation, but demanded to be +led to an invasion of the country, "as an infamous haunt for the +carrying out of infernal machinations." Political addresses seem to our +ideas inconsistent with military discipline; but the army had been +permitted, and even encouraged, to make them ever since the days of the +Consulate, though such addresses never received the recognition of a +publication in the official journal till they had been subjected to +careful revision, and, if necessary, expurgation. On this occasion, +however, that supervision had been carelessly performed, and the +offensive passages were left standing, though, when the Emperor learned +the indignation which they had excited even among his well-wishers in +England, he instructed his ambassador to apologize for their retention +and publication, as an act of inadvertence on the part of the officials +whose duty it had been to revise such documents. So far all was well. +And had the English ministers replied to the despatch of M. de Persigny +in firm and temperate language, they would have escaped the difficulties +which eventually overthrew them. There was no doubt that, according to +diplomatic usage, a written despatch formally communicated to the +Secretary of State required a written reply. + +Unfortunately, a written reply was not given. Lord Clarendon was too +apprehensive of the mischief which might possibly arise from a +protracted discussion, leading, perhaps, to an angry controversy; and +under the influence of this feeling contented himself, when the despatch +was presented, with giving the ambassador a verbal answer, that "no +consideration on earth would induce Parliament to pass a measure for the +extradition of foreign political refugees; that our asylum could not be +infringed, and that we adhered to certain principles on that subject +which were so old and so sacred that they could not be touched;"[308] +adding, however, at the same time an assurance that the Attorney-general +was already, at his request, examining our law of conspiracy, to see +whether it was sufficiently comprehensive or stringent. The purport of +this answer was all that could have been desired; but there was a very +general impression that the omission to reply by a written despatch was +a sacrifice of the national dignity, if not an unworthy submission to +scarcely disguised menace; though at the same time there was also a +feeling among both parties in Parliament that our laws with respect to +the conduct of foreigners residing among us were, perhaps, susceptible +of improvement. On the very first night of the session, in allusion to +the attack on the French Emperor, Lord Derby had said that "he could +wish to hear the opinion of the ministers whether the existing laws of +this country were adequate to afford security for the lives of foreign +princes against plots contrived in this country; and, if they were not, +whether they might not be amended, so as to meet the case of such crimes +as had recently been perpetrated, which were so heinous and revolting to +every feeling of humanity." And even before that speech the ministers +had applied themselves to frame a measure to amend the law, which in the +second week of February the Prime-minister himself introduced to the +House of Commons. + +It was read a first time, though not without some opposition; but before +it arrived at the second reading, though only a week afterward, the +feeling of the country, reflected in this instance by the House, had +become so inflamed, that the measure was not discussed on its own +merits, but on the point whether, since no other answer had been given +to the French despatch, this must not be regarded as the ministerial +answer, and therefore whether it were such an answer as it befitted +England to send. Had it been examined on its own merits solely, it could +hardly have provoked much adverse criticism. It was entitled, "A bill to +amend the law with relation to the crime of conspiracy to commit +murder," and it merely proposed to establish in England a law which had +long existed in Ireland. Hitherto, as Lord Palmerston explained the +matter, England had treated conspiracy to murder as a misdemeanor, +punishable with fine and imprisonment. In Ireland it had long been a +capital crime; and, though he did not propose to assimilate the English +to the Irish statute in all its severity, he proposed to enact that +conspiracy to murder should be a felony, punishable with penal +servitude, by whomsoever the conspiracy might be concocted, or wherever +the crime might be designed to be committed. + +The principle of such a law, supported as it was by the precedent of +Ireland, could hardly be resisted. And Mr. Walpole, who had been +Home-secretary in Lord Derby's ministry, avowed his determination to +support the bill, "as being right in principle." But even he limited his +promise of support by a condition "that the honor of England should be +previously vindicated;" arguing that the French despatch bore the +character of a demand, based upon allegations which were contrary to +truth, and which, therefore, the ministers were bound to repudiate; and +that to pass such a bill without putting on record a formal denial of +those allegations would, in the general view of Europe, imply a +confession that to them we had no answer to give. And it was this +consideration which eventually determined the decision of the House, Mr. +Disraeli, who closed the debate on his side, condemning the conduct of +the ministers as "perplexed, timid, confused, wanting in dignity and +self-respect. In not replying to the despatch, they had lost a great +opportunity of asserting the principles of public law." The House, +taking his view of their conduct, threw out the bill by a majority of +nineteen;[309] and the ministry resigned, and was succeeded by one under +the presidency of Lord Derby. + +Many of those who on this occasion combined to form the majority had +denounced the bill, as an infringement of the principles of our +constitution. It is, however, evident that, had it passed, it would not +have deserved such a description. It would in no degree whatever have +deprived a foreign resident of safety and the protection of English law, +so long as he should obey that law; and that is all the indulgence that +the constitution ever gave or ought to give. Foreigners had always been +amenable to our courts of justice for any violation of the law. And Lord +Palmerston's bill not only went no farther than removing a certain class +of offences from the category of misdemeanors to that of felonies, but +it also imposed no liability in that respect on foreigners which it did +not at the same time impose on all the Queen's subjects. Indeed, the +bill was so moderate, and the improvement it proposed so desirable, +that, in a subsequent discussion in the House of Lords, Lord Campbell, +the Chief-justice, expressed a hope that Lord Derby's government would +take it up; though Lord Derby, in view of the existing feeling of the +country on the subject, prudently forbore to act on that suggestion. +But, as one of Orsini's most guilty accomplices, a man named Bernard, +was still in London, he caused him to be indicted for murder, as having +incurred that guilt as accessary to the death of some whom the explosion +had killed. The excitement on the question had, however, not died away +when the trial came on; and, though it will, probably, be generally +admitted that the evidence was sufficiently clear, Bernard was +acquitted. + +Lord Derby, however, did not long retain his office. Indeed, the Earl +was so conscious that, on questions of general policy, the House of +Commons was inclined to views differing from his own, that he would have +preferred declining the task of forming a ministry, had he not conceived +that, in the difficulty in which the Queen was placed by recent +circumstances, he was bound by his duty to make the attempt, even if the +result of it were merely to obtain a kind of respite for his sovereign +and the country, which might give time for the present excitement of +feeling to calm down. He was not deceived in his forebodings of his +inability to maintain his position. In the course of the next spring he +was twice defeated in the House of Commons--once by the House which he +found in existence, and a second time in one which was the fruit of a +general election. And in the summer of 1859 Lord Palmerston returned to +office, with power increased by the junction of many of those who had +helped to overthrow him in 1858, but who now combined with him to strike +a similar blow at his Conservative successor. + +Yet, brief as was Lord Derby's tenure of power, it was made memorable by +the commencement of a movement which cannot be regarded as devoid of +constitutional importance, since, though originally it was only designed +to supply a temporary re-enforcement to our ancient constitutional +forces, the regular army and the militia, it has eventually created a +force which, to the great honor of those who constitute it, has become a +permanent addition to them. In the great war against Revolutionary +France, when it was generally believed that those who held rule in Paris +were contemplating an invasion of these islands, Pitt, as we have seen, +had encouraged the formation of corps of volunteers, which continued to +be of great use till the very end of the war, by performing, in +conjunction with the militia, a great portion of the home duties which +must otherwise have fallen on the line regiments, and thus disengaging +the regular army for service on the Continent. There was now no such +formidable enemy to be dreaded as the first Napoleon, but in every part +of Europe affairs were in a state so unquiet that every kingdom seemed +at times on the very brink of war; and since, if it should once break +out, no one could feel confident that we should not be involved in it, +or, if we should be, who would be our allies or our enemies, measures of +precaution and self-defence seemed as needful now as they had been sixty +years before. Our boldest statesmen were disquieted and anxious; and the +nation at large, sharing their uneasiness, kindled with the feeling that +it was a time to show that the present generation inherited the +self-denying patriotism of their fathers. Leaders were not wanting again +to prompt the formation of a volunteer force. The government at once saw +the value of the scheme. Fortunately, the Secretary for War, Colonel +Peel, happened to be an old soldier, a veteran who had learned the art +of war under Wellington himself; and he, having great talents for +organization, placed the force from its infancy on a sound footing. How +thoroughly the movement harmonized with the martial spirit of the +nation--to which, indeed, it owed its birth--is shown by the history of +the force, which now, above twenty years after its original formation, +maintains its full numbers and yearly improves its efficiency. Though +there has not for many years been any apprehension of war, above one +hundred and twenty thousand men still annually devote no small portion +of their time to the acquisition of military discipline and science, and +that so successfully, that, by the testimony of the most experienced +judges, they have attained a degree of efficiency which, if the +necessity for their services should ever arise, would render them +valuable and worthy comrades to the more regularly trained army. Lord +Derby retired from office while the force was still in its infancy; but +Lord Palmerston was equally sensible of its value, and gave a farther +proof of his appreciation of the vast importance of measures of national +defence by the vigor with which he carried out the recommendations of a +royal commission which had been appointed by the preceding ministry to +investigate the condition of our national defences. Its report had +pointed out the absolute necessity of an improved system of protection +for our great dockyards and arsenals, which, from their position on the +coast, were more liable to attack than inland fortresses would have +been, had we had such. And, in accordance with that warning, in the +summer of 1860, Lord Palmerston proposed the grant of a large sum of +money for the fortification of our chief dockyards. It was opposed on a +strange variety of grounds; some arguing that the proposed +fortifications were superfluous, because our navy was the defence to +which the nation was wont deservedly to trust; some that they were +needless, because no other nation was in a condition to attack us; +others that they were disgraceful, because it was un-English and mean to +skulk behind stone walls, and because Lycurgus had refused to trust to +stone walls for the safety of Sparta; and one member, the chief +spokesman of a new and small party, commonly known as the +"peace-at-any-price party," boldly denounced the members of the +commission as a set of "lunatics" for framing such a report, and the +ministers as guilty of "contemptible cowardice" for suggesting to the +nation that there was any danger in being undefended. But the ministry +prevailed by a large majority;[310] the money was voted, and the nation +in general warmly approved of the measure. As Lord Palmerston +subsequently expressed it, "the government, the Parliament, and the +nation acted in harmonious concert"[311] on the subject. + +One of the arguments against it which the objectors had brought forward +was, that the ministry was not unanimous in the conviction of the +necessity; and we learn from the "Life of the Prince Consort"[312] that +Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was vehement in his +resistance to it, threatening even to carry his opposition so far as to +resign his office, if it were persevered in. And, as has been intimated +on a previous page, this was not the only question on which in the +course of this year the Prime-minister did in his heart differ from his +Chancellor of the Exchequer, though he did not think it expedient to +refuse his sanction to his proposals on a matter belonging to his own +department, the Exchequer. The subject on which he secretly doubted his +colleague's judgment was one of the proposals made in the Budget of the +year. As has already been mentioned, the transaction throws a rather +curious light on the occasional working of our ministerial system; and +the fate of the measure in the two Houses of Parliament is also +deserving of remark and recollection, as re-opening the question, which +had not been agitated for nearly a century, as to the extent of the +power of the House of Lords with respect to votes of money. In a former +chapter[313] we have had occasion to mention the angry feeling on the +part of the House of Commons which, in the year 1772, had been evoked by +the act of the House of Lords, in making some amendments on a bill +relating to the exportation of corn which had come up to them from the +Commons. A somewhat similar act had, as we have also seen, revived the +discussion a few years later, when the minister of the day had shown a +more temperate feeling on the subject. On neither occasion, however, had +the question of the privileges of the Lords been definitively settled; +and no occasion had since arisen for any consideration of the subject. +But the Budget of 1860 contained a clause which, in spite of the +deserved reputation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer as a skilful +financier, was not regarded with general favor. There was a large +deficiency in the revenue for the year; but while, among his expedients +for meeting it, Mr. Gladstone proposed an augmentation of the +income-tax, he proposed also to repeal the excise duty on paper, which +produced about a million and a quarter. It is now known that the +Prime-minister himself highly disapproved of the sacrifice at such a +time of so productive a tax.[314] And, if that had been suspected at the +time, the House of Commons would certainly not have consented to it; +even when the ministry was supposed to be unanimous in its approval of +it, it was only carried by a majority of nine; and, when the bill +embodying it came before the House of Lords, a Whig peer, who had +himself been formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord Melbourne's +administration, moved its rejection, and it was rejected by a majority +of eighty-nine. + +The rejection of a measure relating to taxation caused great excitement +among a large party in the House of Commons--so violent, indeed, that +the only expedient that presented itself to the Prime-minister, if he +would prevent the proposal of some step of an extreme and mischievous +character, was to take the matter into his own hands. Had he been able +to act entirely on his own judgment, it may, perhaps, be thought that, +with his sentiments on the inexpediency of the measure which had been +rejected, he would have preferred a silent acquiescence in the vote of +the Lords; but he would have been quite unable to induce the majority of +his own supporters, and even some of his own colleagues, to adopt so +moderate a course; and accordingly he moved the appointment of a +committee to examine and report on the practice of Parliament in regard +to bills for imposing or repealing taxes. And when it had made its +report, which was purely of an historical character, setting forth the +precedents bearing on the subject, he proposed three resolutions, +asserting "that the right of granting aids and supplies to the crown is +in the Commons alone, as an essential part of their constitution, etc.; +that, although the Lords had exercised the power of rejecting bills of +several descriptions relating to taxation by negativing the whole, yet +the exercise of that power by them had not been frequent, and was justly +regarded by the Commons with peculiar jealousy, as affecting their +rights, etc.; and that, to guard for the future against an undue +exercise of that power by the Lords, and to secure to the Commons their +rightful control over taxation and supply, the Commons had it in their +power so to impose and remit taxes, and to frame bills of supply, that +their right, etc., might be maintained inviolate." + +In the debate which ensued his chief opponents came from his own party, +and even his own colleague, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, displayed a +fundamental difference of feeling from his on the subject, a difference +which was expressed by one of the most eloquent supporters of the +resolutions, Mr. Horsman, M.P. for Stroud, saying that "Lord Palmerston +wished to make the independence of the House of Lords a reality, while +Mr. Gladstone seemed to desire that it should be a fiction." Lord +Palmerston, indeed, showed the feeling thus attributed to him in a +statesman-like declaration that, if "this nation had enjoyed a greater +amount of civil, political, social, and religious liberty than, as he +believed, any other people in the world, that result had been +accomplished, not by vesting in either of the three estates, the Crown, +the Lords, or the Commons, exclusive or overruling power over the +others, but by maintaining for each its own separate and independent +authority, and also by the three powers combining together to bear and +forbear, endeavoring by harmonious concert with each other to avoid +those conflicts and clashings which must have arisen if independent +authority and independent action had been exerted by each or by all." He +entered into the history of the question, explaining that, though "each +branch of the Legislature retained its respective power of rejecting any +measure, the Commons had claimed from time immemorial particular +privileges in regard to particular measures, and especially the +exclusive right of determining matters connected with the taxation of +the people. They claimed for themselves, and denied to the Lords, the +right of originating, altering, or amending such measures; but, as long +ago as 1671, the Attorney-general, in a memorable conference between the +two Houses, had admitted that the Lords, though they could not originate +or amend, had, nevertheless, power to reject money-bills;" and this +admission he regarded as consistent with common-sense, for "it was well +known that, though the Commons contended for the right of originating +measures for the grant of supply, and of framing bills with that object, +according to their belief of what was best for the public interest, yet +such bills could not pass into law without the assent of the Lords; and +it was clear that an authority whose assent was necessary to give a +proposal the force of law, must, by the very nature of things, be at +liberty to dissent and refuse its sanction." + +The committee had enumerated a large number of precedents (above thirty) +in which, since that conference, the Lords had rejected such bills; but +the cases were not in general exactly similar to that now under +consideration, since the bills which they had rejected had commonly, if +not in every case, been for the imposition and not for the repeal of a +tax; and in most cases some question of national policy had been +involved which had influenced their vote. But the view which Lord +Palmerston pressed on the House was that the present was "a case in +which party feelings ought to be cast aside. It was one in which higher +and larger interests than those of party were concerned, and in which +the course that the House now took would be a precedent to guide future +Parliaments." He pointed out, moreover, that the smallness of the +majority in the House of Commons had been to the Lords "some +encouragement to take this particular step," and that "he was himself +led to think that they had taken it, not from any intention to step out +of their province, and to depart from the line of constitutional right +which the history of the country has assigned them, but from motives of +policy dependent on the circumstances of the moment; and therefore he +thought it would be wise if the Commons forbore to enter into a conflict +with the Lords on a ground which might really not exist, but satisfied +themselves with a declaration of what were their own constitutional +powers and privileges. It was of the utmost importance in a constitution +like ours, where there are different branches, independent of each +other, each with powers of its own, and where cordial and harmonious +action is necessary, that care should be taken to avoid the commencement +of an unnecessary quarrel, and the party that acted otherwise would +incur a grave responsibility." + +Mr. Gladstone, however, though he ended by expressing his concurrence in +the resolution proposed by his chief, used very different language +respecting the vote of the House of Lords, characterizing it as "a +gigantic innovation, the most gigantic and the most dangerous that had +been attempted in our time," since "the origination of a bill for the +imposition of a tax, or the amendment of a money-bill, was a slight +thing compared with the claim to prevent the repeal of a tax;" and, +dealing with assertions which he had heard, that in this instance "the +House of Commons had been very foolish and the House of Lords very +wise," he asked whether that really described the constitution under +which we live. The House of Commons could not be infallible in matters +of finance more than in other matters. It might make errors, but he +demanded to know whether those errors in finance were or were not liable +to correction by the House of Lords. If they were, "what became of the +privileges of the Commons?" On the other hand, Mr. Disraeli, as leader +of the Opposition or Conservative party, supported the resolutions, and +applauded the speech of the Prime-minister, as "a wise, calm, and ample +declaration of a cabinet that had carefully and deliberately considered +this important subject. It had acknowledged that the conduct of the +Lords was justified by law and precedent, and sanctioned by policy," and +he maintained that it showed that "the charge made by the Chancellor of +the Exchequer was utterly untenable, and had no foundation." And Mr. +Horsman, taking a large general view of the legitimate working of the +parliamentary constitution, argued that, while it was an undoubted rule +that "all taxes should originate with the Commons, as that elective and +more immediately responsible assembly that is constantly referred back +to the constituencies, the reviewing power of a permanent and +independent chamber was no less essential;" and that, considering that +"the Reform Bill of 1832 had given a preponderance of powers to the +Commons, and that the tendency of any farther Reform Act must be in the +same direction, so far from narrowing the field of action for the peers, +the wiser alternative might be to adopt a generous construction of their +powers, with a view to preserving the equilibrium that is held to be +essential to the safety and well-working of the constitution. The House +of Commons," he concluded, "is perpetually assuming fresh powers and +establishing new precedents. Virtually all bills now originate with the +Commons; but this is not the consequence of any aggressive spirit in +them, but is the necessary and inevitable result of the historic working +of the constitution; and so this act of the Lords was but the natural +working of the constitution to meet a definite emergency." The +resolutions were passed, the first and third without a division; the +second, to which an amendment had been proposed, designed to limit the +force of the precedents alleged as justifying the act of the Lords, by a +majority of nearly four hundred.[315] In their form and language the +resolutions cannot be said to have greatly affected the power claimed by +the Lords, and exercised by them in this instance. The first two were +simply declaratory of acknowledged principles or facts, and the third +intimated no desire to guard against anything but an undue exertion by +the Lords of the right which they were admitted to possess. But it can +hardly be doubted that the intention even of Lord Palmerston, dictated +by the strong feeling which he perceived to prevail in the House of +Commons on the subject, was to deter the Lords from any future exercise +of their powers of review and rejection of measures relating to +taxation, when, perhaps, the Commons might be under less prudent +guidance; nor that the effect of the resolutions will correspond with +the design rather than with the language of the mover, and will prevent +the Lords, unless under the pressure of some overpowering necessity, +from again interfering to control the Commons in such matters. At the +same time it seems superfluous to point out that one claim advanced by +the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was apparently carried beyond his +usual discretion by his parental fondness for the rejected bill, is +utterly unreconcileable with the maintenance of any constitution at all +that can deserve the name. When there are three bodies so concerned in +the legislation that the united consent of all is indispensable to give +validity to any act, to claim for any one of them so paramount an +authority that, even if it should adopt a manifestly mischievous course, +neither of the others should have the right to control or check or +correct the error, would be to make that body the irresponsible master +of the whole government and nation; to invest it with that "overruling +power" which Lord Palmerston with such force of reasoning had +deprecated; and to substitute for that harmonious concert of all to +which, in his view, the perfection of our liberties was owing, a +submission to one, and that the one most liable to be acted upon by the +violence or caprice of the populace. He was a wise man who said that he +looked on the tyranny of one man as an evil, but on the tyranny of a +thousand as a thousand times worse. And for this reason also the +resolutions which were now adopted seem to have been conceived in a +spirit of judicious moderation, since, while rendering it highly +improbable that the Lords would again reject a measure relating to +taxation, it avoided absolutely to extinguish their power to do so. Lord +Palmerston, it may be thought, foresaw the possibility of an occasion +arising when the notoriety that such a power still existed might serve +as a check to prevent its exercise from being required. In the very case +which had given rise to this discussion he regarded it as certain that +the feeling of the majority of the nation approved of the action of the +peers; and, as what had occurred once might occur again, it was +certainly within the region of possibility that another such emergency +might arise, when the Lords might interfere with salutary effect to save +the country from the evil result of ill-considered legislation; finance +being, above all others, the subject on which a rash or unscrupulous +minister may find the greatest facility for exciting the people by +plausible delusions. There is, moreover, another reason why it would not +only be impolitic, but absolutely unfair, to deprive the Lords +altogether of their power of rejection even in cases of taxation; +namely, that the Commons, when imposing taxes, are taxing the Lords +themselves, as well as the other classes of the community; while the +Lords alone of the whole nation are absolutely unrepresented in the +House of Commons. There is a frequent cry for a graduated income-tax; +and surely if an unscrupulous demagogue in office were to contrive such +a graduation as would subject a peer to three times the income-tax borne +by a commoner, it would be a monstrous iniquity if the peers were to +have no power of protecting themselves in their own House. + +In the last sentence of his speech the Chancellor of the Exchequer had +"respectfully reserved to himself the freedom of acting in such a way as +should appear to offer any hope of success in giving effect by a +practical measure to the principle contained in the first resolution." +And it was, probably, an exemplification of the power of which he thus +bespoke the use that he the next year struck out a scheme for insuring +the repeal of the paper-duties, including it in one bill with all his +other financial propositions, instead of dividing them in the ordinary +way in several distinct bills. It was a manoeuvre which too much +resembled the system of "tacking," which had been so justly denounced as +one of the most unseemly manoeuvres of faction in the previous +century.[316] But, as some of the principal reasons which in the +preceding year had led the Lords to condemn the repeal had ceased to +exist, and the deficiency of the revenue had been converted into a +surplus, they thought it wiser to prove their superiority of wisdom to +the House of Commons by showing a more conciliatory spirit, and passed +the bill; though the course adopted, which had the effect of depriving +the Lords of that power of examination of the details of the financial +scheme of the government which they had hitherto enjoyed without any +question or dispute, was strongly protested against in both Houses, and +by some members who were not generally unfriendly to the administration. + +A hundred years had now elapsed since George III. ascended the throne. +It had been a period full of transactions of great importance, +developing the constitution in such a manner and to such an extent as to +make a change in its character but little inferior to those which had +been produced by the contests of the preceding century. One principal +result of the Revolution of 1688 has been described as having been the +placing of the political power of the state chiefly in the hands of the +aristocracy. The Reform Bill of 1832, which has been sometimes called a +"second Revolution," transferred that power to the middle classes.[317] +And what may be called the logical sequence of the later measures is the +contrary of that which was designed to flow from the earlier ones. The +changes which were effected in 1688 were intended to promote, and were +believed to have insured, stability; to have established institutions of +a permanent character, as far as human affairs can be invested with +permanency. And down to the death of George II. the policy of succeeding +ministers, of whom Walpole may be taken as the type, as he was +unquestionably the most able, aimed chiefly at keeping things as they +were. _Quieta non movere_. The Peerage Bill, proposed by a +Prime-minister thirty years after the Revolution, was but an exaggerated +instance of the perseverance with which that object was kept in view. +But the Reform Bill of 1832, like the Emancipation Act which preceded +it, on the contrary, contained in itself, in its very principle, the +seeds and elements of farther change. + +The Emancipation Act, following and combined with the repeal of the Test +Act, rendered it almost inevitable that religious toleration would in +time be extended to all persuasions, even to those adverse to +Christianity. And the Reform Bill, as has been already pointed out, by +the principles on which it based its limitations of the franchise, laid +the foundation for farther and repeated revision and modification.[318] +The consequence is, that the aim of statesmen of the present day differs +from that which was pursued by their predecessors. The statesman of the +present day can no longer hope to avoid farther changes, and must, +therefore, be content to direct his energies to the more difficult task +of making them moderate and safe, consistent with the preservation of +that balance of powers to which the country owes the liberty and +happiness which it has hitherto enjoyed. + +It is in this point of view that the diffusion of education, beyond the +blessing which it confers on the individual, is of especial importance +to the state. Political theorists affirm that all men have an equal +right to political power--to that amount, at least, of political power +which is conferred by a vote at elections. Men of practical common-sense +affirm that no one has a right to power of any kind, unless he can be +trusted to forbear employing it to the injury of his fellow-creatures or +of himself. And the only safeguard and security for the proper exercise +of political power is sound and enlightened education. It is unnecessary +to dwell on this point, because our statesmen of both parties (to their +honor) give constant proof of their deep conviction of its importance. + +But, in closing our remarks, it may be allowable to point out the +political lesson which, above all others, the teachers of the masses +should seek to inculcate on their pupils. The art of government, and +each measure of government, is, above all other things, the two-sided +shield. There are so many plausible arguments which may be advanced on +each side of almost every question of policy, that no candid man will +severely condemn him who in such disputable matters forms an opinion +different from his own. Age and experience are worse than valueless if +they do not teach a man to think better of his kind; and the history of +the period which we have been considering teaches no lesson more +forcibly than this, that the great majority of educated men, and +especially of our leading statesmen, are actuated by honest and +patriotic motives. And we would presume to urge that more important than +a correct estimate of any one transaction of the past, or even of any +one measure to influence the future, is the habit of putting a candid, +and therefore a favorable, construction on the characters and intentions +of those to whom from time to time the conduct of the affairs of the +nation is intrusted. + +Notes: + +[Footnote 276: "Life of Palmerston," vol. i., c. vii.] + +[Footnote 277: "Life of the Prince Consort," ii, 303.] + +[Footnote 278: _Ibid_., p. 412.] + +[Footnote 279: Amos, "Fifty Years of the English Constitution," p. 289.] + +[Footnote 280: "Past Gleanings," i., 242.] + +[Footnote 281: "Life of the Prince Consort," iv., 458.] + +[Footnote 282: 219 to 210.] + +[Footnote 283: "Life of the Prince Consort," v., 100.] + +[Footnote 284: _Ibid_., p. 148.] + +[Footnote 285: "Life of Pitt," by Earl Stanhope, iii., 210.] + +[Footnote 286: "Life of the Prince Consort," iv., 329.] + +[Footnote 287: _Ibid._, p. 366.] + +[Footnote 288: "Constitutional History," iii., 319, 3d edition.] + +[Footnote 289: It should be added that, on a subsequent occasion, Mr. +Roundell Palmer, member for Plymouth (now Lord Chancellor Selborne, and +even then in the enjoyment of the highest professional reputation), +declared his opinion to be in favor of the legality and constitutional +propriety of the proceeding.] + +[Footnote 290: To illustrate this position, Lord Lyndhurst said: "The +sovereign may by his prerogative, if he thinks proper, create a hundred +peers with descendible qualities in the course of a day. That would be +consistent with the prerogative, and would be perfectly legal; but +everybody must feel, and everybody must know, that such an exercise of +the undoubted prerogative of the crown would be a flagrant violation of +the principles of the constitution. In the same manner the sovereign +might place the Great Seal in the hands of a layman wholly unacquainted +with the laws of the country. That also would be a flagrant violation of +the constitution of this country."--Hansard's _Parliamentary Debates_, +cxl., February 7, 1856. In the same debate Lord Derby defined +"prerogative" as "the power of doing that which is beside the law." +Hallam, in discussing the prosecution of Sir Edward Hales, fully +recognizes the principle contended for by Lord Lyndhurst, saying that +"it is by no means evident that the decision of the judges" in that case +"was against law," but proceeding to show that "the unadvised assertion +in a court of law" of such an exercise of the prerogative "may be said +to have sealed the condemnation of the house of Stuart."-- +_Constitutional History_, vol. iii., c. xiv., p. 86.] + +[Footnote 291: In the reign of Richard II. the Earl of Oxford had been +made Marquis of Dublin for life, but he already had a seat in the House +as Earl. Henry V. had originally made the peerages of his brothers, the +Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester, life peerages; but these were afterward +surrendered and regranted "in the usual descendible form," so that they +rather made against the present case than for it. Henry VIII. had +created the Prince of Thomond Earl of Thomond for his life, but he had +at the same time granted him the barony of Inchiquin "for himself and +his heirs forever." It was also alleged that these life peerages had not +been conferred by the King alone, but by the King with the authority and +consent of Parliament, "these significant words being found in the +patents."] + +[Footnote 292: The division was 153 to 133. Some years afterward, +however, a clause in the act, which created a new appellate +jurisdiction, empowered the sovereign to create peerages of this limited +character, one of the clauses providing that "every Lord of Appeal in +Ordinary should be entitled during his life to rank as a Baron by such +style as her Majesty may be pleased to appoint, and shall during the +time that he continues in office as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, and no +longer be entitled to a writ of summons to attend, sit, and vote in the +House of Lords. His dignity as a Lord of Parliament shall not descend to +his heirs." As this act was passed long after the period at which the +present volume closes, it does not belong to the writer to examine how +far this act, in providing that every Lord of Appeal shall for the time +rank as a Baron (the Lords of Appeal being, of course, appointed by the +crown), is entitled to be spoken of as introducing a great +constitutional innovation, big with future consequences, as it has been +described by some writers.] + +[Footnote 293: In one notorious instance, that of the Earl of Bristol +(_confer_ Hallam, i., 518), in the time of Charles I., the House of +Lords had interfered and compelled the issue of the writ; their action +forming a precedent for their right of interference in such matters, +which in the present case the Lord Chancellor denied.] + +[Footnote 294: The grant of a pension of L1000 a year, with a baronetcy, +to General Havelock, and more recently to Sir F. Roberts, are, it is +believed, the only exceptions to this rule.] + +[Footnote 295: Bishop Lonsdale, of Lichfield, in reference to Simon +Magus, from whose offer of money to the Apostles the offence derives its +name, denying that there was any similarity between his sin and the act +of purchasing an advowson or presentation, remarked that it might just +as fitly be called magic as simony.] + +[Footnote 296: It has been, and will probably continue to be, a matter +of dispute whether the first conception and plan of the insurrection +originated with the restless boldness of the Mohammedans or the deeper +fanaticism of the Hindoos. It is notorious that the prophecy that a +century had been assigned by the Almighty as the allotted period of our +supremacy in India had for many years been circulated among both; and, +though the conspiracy was at first generally attributed to the +Mohammedans, the argument that the period from the battle of Plassy, in +1757, to the outbreak in 1857, though an exact century according to the +Hindoo calendar, is three years longer according to the Mohammedan +computation, seems an almost irresistible proof that the Brahmins were +its original authors. Sir John Kaye, in his "History of the Sepoy War," +at the end of book iii., c. iii., prints the following note, as +furnished to him by Mr. E.A. Reade, a gentleman of long experience in +India: "I do not think I ever met one man in a hundred that did not give +the Mohammedans credit for this prediction. I fully believe that the +notion of change after a century of tenure was general, and I can +testify, with others, to have heard of the prediction at least a quarter +of a century previously. But, call it a prediction or a superstition, +the credit of it must, I think, be given to the Hindoos. If we take the +Hejira calendar, 1757 A.D. corresponds with 1171 Hejira; 1857 A.D. with +1274 Hejira; whereas, by the lunisolar year of the Sumbut, 1757 is 1814 +Sumhut, and 1857 is 1914 Sumbut."] + +[Footnote 297: It is worthy of remark that, as early as 1829, the Earl +of Ellenborough, then President of the Board of Control, had come to the +conclusion that the Company was no longer competent to govern so vast a +dominion as that of British India had gradually become. In his Diary, +recently published (ii., 131), he expresses his firm conviction that, +"in substituting the King's government for that of the Company, we shall +be conferring a great benefit on India, and effecting the measure which +is most likely to retain for England the possession of India;" and from +the same work (ii., 61) we learn that Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone, one +of the ablest servants of whom the Company could boast, and who had +recently been Governor of Bombay, even while confessing himself +prejudiced in favor "of the existing system, under which he had been +educated and lived," admitted that "the administration of the government +in the King's name would be agreeable to the civil and military +services, and to people in England. He doubted whether, as regarded the +princes of India, it would signify much, as they now pretty well +understood us." See also _ibid_., p. 414.] + +[Footnote 298: 318 to 173.] + +[Footnote 299: The whole bill is given in the "Annual Register" for the +year 1858, p. 226.] + +[Footnote 300: See her letter to Lord Derby on the subject, given in the +"Life of the Prince Consort," iv., 308; _confer_ also a memorandum of +the Prince Consort, _ibid._, p. 310.] + +[Footnote 301: _Ibid._, p. 106.] + +[Footnote 302: It should be remarked that the arrangement originally +carried out awoke among the European troops of the Company so deep and +general a spirit of discontent as at one time threatened to break out in +open mutiny; the ground of their dissatisfaction being "the transfer of +their services in virtue of an act of Parliament, but without their +consent." Accordingly, "on the announcement of the proclamation +transferring the possessions of the East India Company to the crown, +some of the soldiers of the Company's European force set up a claim for +a free discharge or a bounty on re-enlistment." Lord Clyde's +recommendation "that a concession should be made" was overruled by the +government of India, and "pronounced inadmissible by the law-officers of +the crown" in England. The dissatisfaction was allayed for the time by +the judicious measures, equally conciliatory and firm, adopted by Lord +Clyde, in whom all ranks of both armies felt equal confidence; but +eventually the government became convinced of the necessity of granting +discharges to every man who wished for one, provided he had not +misconducted himself.--Shadwell's _Life of Lord Clyde_, ii., 407-416.] + +[Footnote 303: See _ante_, p. 385.] + +[Footnote 304: Stanhope's "Life of Pitt," i., 173.] + +[Footnote 305: Sir Theodore Martin quotes a passage from a letter of the +_Times_ correspondent, giving a report of the effect of the proclamation +on the natives: "Genuineness of Asiatic feeling is always a problem, but +I have little doubt it is in this instance literally sincere. The people +understand an Empress, and did not understand the Company. Moreover, +they (I am speaking of the masses) have a very decided notion that the +Queen has hanged the Company for offences 'which must have been very +great,' and that fact gives hope of future justice."--_Life of the +Prince Consort_, iv., 337.] + +[Footnote 306: The "Annual Register" says that "neither the Emperor nor +the Empress was touched;" but Sir Theodore Martin ("Life of the Prince +Consort," iv., 155) says that "the Emperor's nose was grazed, and that +the Empress received a blow on the left eye which affected it for some +time."] + +[Footnote 307: "Life of the Prince Consort," iv., 156.] + +[Footnote 308: Speech of Lord Palmerston, February 19.] + +[Footnote 309: It is remarkable that it was not a very full House, the +numbers of the division being only 234 to 215. Many members absented +themselves, being equally unwilling to condemn the bill or to approve +the silence of the ministry.] + +[Footnote 310: 268 to 39.] + +[Footnote 311: "Life of the Prince Consort," v., 131.] + +[Footnote 312: "Life of the Prince Consort," i., 99.] + +[Footnote 313: Chapter II., p. 54.] + +[Footnote 314: It is known, from two letters from Lord Palmerston to the +Queen, published in the "Life of the Prince Consort," v., 100--in one, +written before the debate in the House of Lords, he expresses a hope +that the smallness of the majority in the House of Commons will +encourage the Lords to throw it out, and he "is bound in duty to say +that, if they do so, they will perform a good public service;" and in +another, the day after the division in the Lords, he writes again "that +they have done a right and useful thing," adding that the feeling of the +public was so strong against the measure, that those in the gallery of +the House are said to have joined in the cheers which broke out when the +numbers were announced.] + +[Footnote 315: 433 to 36.] + +[Footnote 316: See the proceedings of 1700 (Macaulay, "History of +England," v., 278; and of 1704, Lord Stanhope's "Reign of Queen Anne," +p. 168). The Whig and the Tory writer equally condemn the "Tackers."] + +[Footnote 317: In the debate on life peerages ("Parliamentary History," +cxl., 356), Lord Grey spoke of "that great transfer of political power +from one class to another which was accomplished by the Reform Bill" And +Lord Campbell, speaking of Lord Grey himself in connection with that +measure, says: "His Reform Bill ought to place him in a temple of +British worthies by the side of Lord Somers, for it wisely remodelled +the constitution, and it is hardly less important than the Bill of +Rights."--_Life of Lord Campbell_, ii., 201.] + +[Footnote 318: A recent writer, professedly belonging to the Radical +party, claims for it the credit of "being the legitimate issue of the +Reform Bill of 1832." ("The State of Parties," by J.E. Kebbel, +_Nineteenth Century_, March, 1881, p. 497.)] + + + + +INDEX. + + +ABBOTT, Mr., proposes a census. +Addington, Mr., becomes Prime-minister, See Sidmouth. +Additional Force Bill. +Albert, Prince, marries Queen Victoria. +Alien' Act, the. +Althorp, Lord, introduces a bill for the reform of the Poor-laws; + his speech on the condition of Ireland; + invites the House of Commons to rescind a vote. +Amelia, Princess, death of. +Archdall, Mr., on Catholic Emancipation, note. +Association, Catholic, suppression of. + +BAKER, Mr., moves a resolution on the dismissal of the Coalition + Ministry. +Barrington, Lord, moves the expulsion of Wilkes. +Battle, wager of, abolished. +Bernard, trial of, as accomplice of Orsini. +Bishoprics, provision for the increase of; + exclusion of the occupants of the junior bishoprics from the House of + Peers; + resignation of, by aged bishops. +Blucher, Field-marshal, proposes to put Napoleon to death. +Boston, United States, tea ships at, boarded by rioters, and the cargo + thrown into the sea. +Bristol, Lord, denounces the appointment of the Chief-justice to a seat + in the cabinet. +Brougham, Mr., afterward Lord Chancellor, the chief adviser of the + Queen; + defends the ministry for stopping Lord Powis's bill. +Brownlow, Mr., opposes Pitt's commercial reforms. +Buonaparte, Napoleon, detention of. +Burdett, Sir F., carries a motion for repeal of Roman Catholic + disabilities. +Burke, Mr. B., opposes the expulsion of Wilkes; + supports Mr. Grenville's act; + complains of the insolence of the House of Peers; + supports the repeal of the bill for taxing the American Colonies; + on annual Parliaments; + brings in a bill for economical reform; + his "short account of a late administration"; + asserts the right of the House of Peers to examine the public + accounts; + his violent language on the Regency Bill; + member of Lord Rockingham's second ministry; + his view of the attachment of the Colonies to England. +Bute, Earl of, Prime-minister in 1762; + resigns office. + +CABINET, character of. +Camden, Earl of, approves the resolution of the House of Commons; + opposes the Royal Marriage Act; + supports Lord Chatham's views on the American question; + moves the Regency bill of 1788. +Campbell, Lord, his "Lives of the Chancellors" referred to; + his denunciation of the Declaratory Act; + and of the Regency bill; + on the Chief-justice in the cabinet. +Canada, disquietude in; + union of the two provinces. +Canning, Lord, grants the right of adoption to the Hindoo feudatories. +Canning, Mr. G., attacks the appointment of the Chief-justice to a seat + in the cabinet; becomes Prime-minister; + dies; + his opinion on the question in which House of Parliament the + Prime-minister should be. +Caroline, Princess of Brunswick, marries the Prince of Wales; + investigations into her conduct; + she dies. +Cave, Mr., punished for publishing reports of debates. +Census established. +Charlotte, Princess, birth of. +Chartists, rise of; + outrages of, at Birmingham and Newport. +Chatham, Earl of, Secretary of State in 1760; + Lord Privy Seal in 1767; supports Lord Rockingham's resolution on the + expulsion of Wilkes; + denies the power of the Parliament to tax America. +Church reform, sketched out by Sir Robert Peel; + earned by Lord Melbourne's ministry. +Clarence, Duke of, opposes the abolition of the slave trade; + his leaning toward the Whigs. +Clarendon, Earl of, omits to reply to the despatch of the French + minister. +Clergy, Roman Catholic, question of endowing the. +Colborne, Sir John crushes the insurrection in Canada. +Colonies, general grant of constitutions to, in New Zealand, the Cape, + and Australia. +Commons, House of privileges of, with respect to money bills. +Conventicle Act, repeal of. +Conway, General, Secretary of State, introduces a bill of indemnity. +Cornwallis, Lord, surrenders in America. +Corporations, reform of. +Crosby, Brass, Mr, Lord Mayor, commits a messenger of the House of + Commons, and is himself committed to the Tower. +Cumberland, Duke of, marries Mrs Horton. +Cust, Sir J, Speaker of the House of Commons. + +DASHWOOD, Sir F., his revels at Medmenham Abbey. +Declaratory Act. +De Grey, Mr, Attorney-general, supports the resolutions against Wilkes. +Denbigh, Lord, defends the employment of Hanoverian troops at Gibraltar. +Denman, Lord Chief justice, his charge to the jury in the case of + Stockdale v. Hansard. +Disraeli, Mr B, his act for the trial of election petitions; + he denounces Sir Robert Peel for not resigning when defeated on the + sugar-duties; + condemns Lord Clarendon's omission to reply to the French despatch; + supports the House of Lords on the paper duties. +Dowdeswell, Mr, opposes the Royal Marriage Act. +Dundas, Mr, moves an amendment to Mr Dunning's resolution. +Dunning, Mr, afterward Lord Ashburton, supports Mr Glenvilles act; + criticizes a resolution on the influence of the crown. +Dunham, Lord, Governor of Canada. + +EDUCATION, influence of the penal laws on in Ireland. +Eldon, Lord, on the coronation oath in connection with the Catholic + question; + on the detention of Napoleon; + on life peerages. +Elgin, Lord, Governor general of Canada. +Ellenborough, Lord, supports the Additional Force Bill; + becomes a member of the Cabinet; + is recalled from the government of India by the Company. +Emancipation of Roman Catholics designed by Pitt; + concurred by the Duke of Wellington. +Erskine, Lord, as Chancellor, presides over the impeachment of Lord + Melville; + resists Lord Sidmouth's Six Acts. + +FITZGERALD, LORD E., opposes the English government. +Fitzgerald, Mr Vesey, is defeated in Clare. +Fitzgibbon, Mr (afterward Lord Clare), opposes the convention of + delegates in Dublin; + Attorney-general in Ireland, prosecutes the sheriff of Dublin; + supports the Regency bill. +Fitzwilliam, Earl, is dismissed from the Lord-lieutenancy of Yorkshire. +Five Mile Act repealed. +Fox, Mr C., opposes Mr Grenville's act; + on the privileges claimed by the House of Commons respecting + money-bills; + _note_, on Parliamentary reform and annual Parliaments; + urges the appointment as Prime-Minister of the Duke of Portland; + resigns office; + becomes Secretary of State; + his India Bill; + violence of his attacks on Pitt at the beginning of his ministry; + his opinions on Colonial policy; + denies the Prince's marriage; + opposes the Regency bill; + opposes the Alien Act and other bills; + opposes Pitt's commercial reforms; + becomes Secretary of State; + supports the abolition of the slave trade; + dies. +France, new revolution in 1848. +Franklin, Dr, is examined by the House of Commons on Mr Glenville's + measures of taxation. + +GEORGE III., state of affairs at the accession of; + illness of in 1764; + firmness in the Gordon riots; + becomes deranged; + is attacked on the street; + resists the relaxation of Catholic restrictions; + becomes permanently deranged; + dies; + character of his reign. +George IV. succeeds to the throne. +Gladstone, Mr W.E., opposes the fortification of the dockyards; + proposes to repeal the paper-duties; + carries the repeal of the paper-duties; + desires to weaken the power of the House of Lords. +Gloucester, Duke of, marries Lady Waldegrave. +Gordon, Lord George, the Gordon riots. +Goulburn, Mr. H, is Chancellor of the Exchequer. +Grafton, Duke of, Prime-minister in 1767; + disapproves of American taxation. +Graham, Sir J., as Home-secretary, orders the opening of letters. +Grampound disfranchised. +Granville, Earl, defends life peerages. +Grattan, Mr. H., moves the repeal of Poynings' Act; + opposes Pitt's commercial reforms; + opposes Pitt's Regency bill. +Grenville, Mr. G., becomes Prime minister; + opposes the expulsion of Wilkes; + brings in a bill for the investigation of election petitions; + imposes taxes on the North American Colonies. +Grenville, Lord, introduces the Alien Bill; + opposes the Additional Force Bill; + brings in a bill for the abolition of the slave trade; + refuses a seat in the cabinet in 1812. +Grey, Mr. (afterward Earl), opposes the Regency bill; + opposes the Alien Act; + opposes the union with Ireland; + proposes to diminish the number of members of the House of Commons; + opposes the abolition of slavery; + refuses a seat in the cabinet in 1812; + becomes Prime minister; + his ministry brings in Reform Bill; + defends a proposed creation of peers; + mentions the sovereign's opinion unconstitutionally; + letters from office. +Grey, Earl (son of the preceding), his doctrine on the true principles + of colonial government; + on life peerages. +Gower, Lord F.L., carries a resolution for the endowment of the Roman + Catholic clergy. +Girizot, M., Foreign Secretary in France. + +HALIFAX, Earl of, issues a general warrant against the publishers, etc., + of _The North Briton_. +Hanoverian troops, employment of, at Gibraltar. +Hansard, Mr., publishes the Parliamentary debates. +Hardy, General, taken prisoner by Sir J. Warren. +Hill, Mr. Roland, proposes a reform of the Post-office. +Hillsborough, Lord, writes a circular letter to the North American + Colonies. +Hoche, General, sails for Ireland. +Holdernesse, Earl of, Secretary of State in 1760. +Holland, Lord, opposes the Regency Bill. +Holt, Chief justice, his decision on the question of slavery. +Holsmann, Mr., supports the House of Lords on the paper duties. +Humbert, General, taken prisoner in Mayo. + +INDIA, Fox's India Bill; + Pitt's India Bill; + Mutiny in; + transfer of the authority of the Company to the crown; + establishment of the Order of the Star of India; + is visited by the Prince of Wales. +Ireland, affairs of; + connection with France; + rebellion in. + +JAMAICA, planters in, compensated for the diminution of the value + of their property by the abolition of slavery; + disturbances in; + its constitution is suspended. +Judges, new tenure of their office. + +KING, the, cannot be a witness in any legal proceeding. + +LABOUCHERE, Mr. H., reproaches Sir Robert Peel for not resigning. +Leopold, King of Belgium, points of the insufficiency of the description + of Prince Albert. +Lewis, Sir. G.C., speech on the history and power of the East India + Company. +Liverpool, Lord, earnest for the universal abolition of the slave trade; + becomes Prime minister; + makes the Catholic question an open question in the cabinet; + brings in, and subsequently withdraws, a "Bill of Pains and + Penalties"; + against the Queen; + attacked by apoplexy and dies; + contemplates an increased grant to Maynooth. +Lopes, Sir M., procures the return of Mr. Pool for Westbury. +Louise, Princess, marriage of. +Lowther, Sir John, obtains a grant of Inglewood Forest. +Luttrell, Mr., is declared elected for Middlesex. +Lyndhurst, Lord, carries an amendment on the Reform Bill; + introduces a Regency bill. + +MACINTOSH, Sir J., applies himself to mitigate the severity of the law. +Mahon, Lord, brings in a bill to diminish the expenses of elections. +Mansfield, Lord, condemns general warrants; + insists on the necessity of a bill of indemnity; + vindicates the supremacy of Parliament; + his house is burnt by the rioters in 1780. +Martin, Mr., wounds Wilkes in a duel. +Massachusetts, riots in. +Maynooth, foundation of a college at; + is enlarged and more fully endowed. +Melbourne, Lord, becomes Prime-minister; + resigns; + resumes office; + mismanages the arrangements for Prince Albert. +Melville, Lord, is impeached. +Metternich, Prince, is driven from Vienna. +Miles, Mr., defeats the government on the sugar-duties. +Moira, Lord, employed by the Regent to negotiate with the Whig leaders + in 1812. +Money-bills, power of the House of Lords as to. +Montesquieu, M. de, his opinion of the English constitution. +Montmorin, M., Wilberforce writes to him on the subject of the + slave-trade. + +NAPOLEON, Louis, is elected President of the French Republic; + his _coup d'etat_; + conspiracy against. +Navigation laws, the, repeal of. +Nelson, Lord, his victory at Copenhagen. +Newcastle, Duke of, Prime minister in 1760. +New Shoreham, disfranchisement of for bribery. +Newspapers, tax on, reduced and afterward abolished. +Nicholas, Emperor of Russia, writes to the Queen. +Normanby, Lord, ambassador in Paris, complains of Lord Palmerston. +North, Lord, supports the decision in favor of Mr. Luttrell; + opposes Mr. Grenville's act; + opposes Mr. Seymour's bill to limit the _Nullum Tempus_ Act; + opposes reform of Parliament; + rejects the demands of Ireland. +Northington, Lord C., defends the embargo on corn; + indicates the supremacy of Parliament. +_Nullum Tempus_ Act, the, extended. + +O'CONNELL, Mr. D., is returned for Clare; + is chief of the Catholic Association. +Octennial act for Ireland. +"Olive Branch, the," +Onslow, Colonel, complains of the publication of the debates. +Orsini, conspiracy of. + +PALMERSTON, Lord, is dismissed from the Foreign-office; + introduces the bill for the transfer of the government of India to + the crown; + writes to the Queen on the abolition of the authority of the East + India Company; + is defeated on the Conspiracy Bill and resigns; + returns to office; + disapproves of the reduction of the paper-duty; + desires to uphold the House of Lords. +Papineau. M., organizes an insurrection in Canada. +Parke, Sir J., is created a peer for life. +Parliament, first meeting of the United. +Peel, Sir Robert, responsible for the change of ministry in 1834; + becomes Home-secretary; + resigns his seat for Oxford and fails to be re-elected; + impropriety of his resignation; + speech on introducing the bill for Catholic Emancipation; + becomes Prime-minister; + declines to form an administration in 1839; + supports Lord J. Russell's resolutions in the case of Stockdale _v._ + Hansard; + his opinion on the question in which House the Prime-minister should + be; + becomes Prime-minister in 1841; + revises the commercial tariff; + suspends the Corn-law; + causes its abolition. +Peel, Colonel, organizes the Volunteers. +Peerages, life, legality of. +Peers, the House of, strikes out of a corn bill some clauses giving + bounties; + their right to inquire into the public expenditure asserted by Lord + Camden and others; + their privileges as to money-bills; + provisions as to Irish peers in the Act of Union; + proposed creation of peers to carry the Reform Bill considered; + the House of Peers rejects the abolition of the paper-duty. +Penal laws, in Ireland; + repeal of; + in the United Kingdom. +Penu, Mr., sent from America to England with "the Olive Branch." +Perceval, Mr., becomes Prime-minister; + proposes a Regency bill; + is murdered. +Percy, Lord, proposes the entire abolition of slavery. +Persigny, M. de, French Secretary of State, his despatch on Orsini's + conspiracy. +Pigott, Sir A., brings in a bill on the slave-trade. +Pitt, see Earl of Chatham. +Pitt, Mr. T., denounces the influence of the crown. +Pitt, Mr. W., on the privileges of House of Commons respecting + money-bills; + _note_; + becomes Prime-minister; + his long struggle against, and eventual defeat of the Opposition; + comparisons between his father and him; + his India bill; + his Quebec bill; + his Regency bill; + founds Maynouth; + carries the Irish Union; + resigns on the Catholic question. +Plunkett, Mr., opposes the Irish Union. +Ponsonby, Mr. G., condemns the policy of open questions. +Poor-law, the, reform of. +Portland, Duke of, becomes Prime-minister; + again. +Post-office, reform of; + letters opened by the order of the Secretary of State. +Powis, Earl, brings in a bill to preserve the Welsh sees. +Pownall, Governor, introduces a corn bill. +Poynings' Act; + repeal of. + +RADETSKY, MARSHAL, his campaign in North Italy. +Reform of Parliament, Alderman Sawbridge proposes a measure of; + Mr. Pitt brings in a bill for; + agitation for, in 1818; + introduced and carried by Lord Grey's administration; + the people indifferent to farther reform. +Regency bill of 1764; + of 1840; + former Regency bills had been passed in the reigns of Edward III., + Richard II., Henry VI., and George II.; + in Ireland; + bill of 1810. +Registration, extension of, 342. +Rice, Mr. Spring, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduces + Post-office reform; + as Lord Monteagle proposes the rejection of the paper-duty bill. +Roberts, Mr., returning officer for New Shoreham. +Rochfort, Lord, introduces the Royal Marriage Act. +Rockingham, Marquis of, Prime-minister in 1768; + moves a resolution condemning the proceedings against Wilkes; + Prime-minister a second time; + repeals the American taxes; + disapproves of the employment of Hanoverian troops at Gibraltar; + wisdom of his policy toward America; + his speech on the influence of the crown; + becomes Prime-minister a second time. +Rolle, Mr., moots the question of the Prince's marriage. +Romilly, Sir S., opposes the Regency bill; + applies himself to reforms of the law. +Rose, Mr., opposes Sir A. Pigott's bill on the slave-trade. +Russell, Lord J., his opinion on Fox's conduct in Opposition; + on the Regency bill; + carries the repeal of the Test Act; + introduces the Reform Bill; + introduces a bill for municipal reform; + his resolutions in the case of Stockdale v. Hansard; + becomes Prime--minister. +Russia, war with. + +SANDWICH, EARL OF, denounces Wilkes's "Essay on Woman." +Sarsfield, General, takes refuge in France. +Savile, Sir G., his bill for the limitation of the _Nullum Tempus_ Act. +Seaforth, Lord, reports of the treatment of slaves in Barbadoes. +Seditious Meetings Act. +Shelburne, Lord, denounces the employment of Hanoverian troops at + Gibraltar; + becomes Prime-minister. +Sheridan, Mr. R., his language on the Prince's marriage; + opposes the Alien Act; + conceals Lord Yarmouth's intention to resign. +Sidmouth, Lord, as Home-secretary, introduces six bills for the + suppression of sedition; + resigns office. +Slavery, abolition of. +Slave-trade, abolition of. +Smith, Mr. W., M.P. for Norwich, on repeal of the Five Mile Act. +Somersett, is released by Lord Mansfield. +Stamp Act, imposed on the American Colonies by Mr. Grenville; + repealed by Lord Rockingham. +Stanley, Mr., afterward Lord, and afterward Lord Derby, denounces the + Catholic Association; + brings in a bill for the abolition of slavery; + fails in the attempt to form a ministry in 1845; + becomes Prime-minister in 1852; + proposes a committee on life peerages; + becomes Prime-minister; + resigns. +St. Vincent, Lord, opposes the abolition of the slave-trade. +Stockdale, Mr., brings an action against Messrs. Hansard. +Sugar-duties, Sir Robert Peel's ministry is defeated on a reduction of. +Sussex, Duke of, protests against some clauses of the Regency Act. +Sydenham, Lord, Governor-general of Canada. + +TANDY, NAPPER, proposes a congress. +Temple, Earl, his interview with George III. +Test and Corporation Acts are repealed. +Thurlow, Mr., afterward Lord Chancellor, on the case of Wilkes; + defends the employment of Hanoverian troops at Gibraltar; + denounces Fox's India Bill; + approves of the King's employment of Lord Temple. +Tone, Wolfe, commits suicide. +Townsend, Lord, Lord-lieutenant of Ireland. +Townsend, Mr. C., re-imposes taxes on North America. +Traitorous Correspondence Bill. +Troy, Dr., petitions for a Roman Catholic college in Ireland. + +UNION, the Irish. +Union with Scotland, obstacles to, and advantages resulting from. + +VICTORIA, Queen, succeeds to the throne; + marries; + her careful exercise of her duties; + draws up a memorandum for the guidance of the ministers; + writes to foreign sovereigns. +Victoria, the province of, grant of a constitution to. +Villiers, Mr. C., advocates the repeal of the Corn-laws. +Volunteers, rise of the Irish, 158; rise of the English. + +WALES, Prince or, son of George III., his conduct and establishment; + marries Mrs. Fitzherbert; + is attacked in the streets; + See George IV. +Wales, Prince of, son of the Queen, visits India. +Walpole, Sir R., the case of; + on election petitions; + refuses to repeal the Test Act; + his general policy. +Walpole, Mr. Spencer, supports the Conspiracy Bill. +Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, denounces Wilkes. +Ward, Mr., his motion on the appropriation of Church funds. +Wedderburn, Mr., on the case of Wilkes; + supports Mr. Grenville's act; + his opinion on the Riot Act; + the chief legal adviser of the Prince of Wales; + suggests the Traitorous Correspondence Bill; + excites the King to resist the removal of Catholic disabilities. +Wellesley, Marquis, proposed to be appointed Prime-minister. +Wellington, Lord, afterward Duke of, his victories in the Peninsula and + in France; + becomes Commander-in-chief; + advises the King to decline dining with the Lord Mayor; + fails in the endeavor to form an administration; + becomes temporary Prime-minister, holding several offices; + condemns the recall of Lord Ellenborough. +Westmoreland, Lord, opposes the abolition of the slave-trade. +Wetherall, Sir Charles, is attacked at Bristol. +Weymouth, Lord, Secretary of State, writes a letter to the Surrey + magistrates. +Whately, Archbishop, his opinion on the Lord-lieutenancy of Ireland; + _note_. +Whitbread, Mr., promotes the impeachment of Lord Melville. +Wilberforce, Mr. W., proposes the admission of Roman Catholics to the + militia; + devotes himself to the abolition of the slave-trade. +Wilkes, Mr., sets up _The North Briton_; + criticises the King's speech; + is apprehended; + is expelled the House of Commons for printing the "Essay on Woman;" + is elected for Middlesex, expelled, and re-elected; + as Lord Mayor behaves with spirit during the Gordon riots; + procures the expunction of the resolutions against him. +William IV., his conduct on the Reform Bill; + dies. +Windham, Mr., brings in a bill for reenforcing the army. +Wolseley, Sir C., is elected M.P. by a Birmingham convention. + +YARMOUTH, Earl of, Lord Chamberlain. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Constitutional History of England +From 1760 to 1860, by Charles Duke Yonge + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF ENGLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 10807.txt or 10807.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/8/0/10807/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, David King, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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