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6. Break-up of the Ministry. 1834.--The ministry had by this time lost much of its popularity. Every piece of successful legislation alienated some of its supporters, and the rapidity of the changes effected by the reformed Parliament frightened many easygoing people. Peel, too, who led the Conservatives in the House of Commons, was growing in favour by the ability, and still more by the moderation, which he displayed. The ministers, too, disagreed amongst themselves. An open rupture occurred when Lord John Russell declared for the right of Parliament to appropriate the misused revenues of the Irish Church to other purposes. “Johnny," wrote Stanley to Sir James Graham, the First Lord of the Admiralty, "has upset the coach." Stanley, Graham, and Lord Ripon -who had formerly been known as Lord Goderich (see p. 892) — resigned together. Further misunderstandings brought about the resignation of Grey, who had been an excellent Prime Minister as long as the Reform question was still unsettled, but who did not possess the qualities needed in the head of a divided Cabinet. He was succeeded by Lord Melbourne, and Melbourne contrived to keep his followers together for a few months. In November, however, Lord Althorp, who was the leader of the House of Commons, became Earl Spencer by his father's death, and it was therefore necessary to find a successor to him. The king, who had long been alienated from the Reformers, took advantage of the occasion to dismiss the ministry. It was the last time that a ministry was dismissed by a sovereign.

7. Foreign Policy of the Reformers. 1830-1834.-Whilst the home policy of the Reform ministry had been weakened by divisions in the Cabinet, its foreign policy had been in the strong hands of Lord Palmerston (see p. 901). In 1830 the revolution at Paris had been followed by a revolution at Brussels, the object of which was not to procure internal reforms but to separate Belgium from the kingdom of the Netherlands, of which it had formed a part only since 1814 (see p. 873). Lord Palmerston's policy was to forward the desire of the Belgians for independence and at the same time to hinder any attempt on the part of France to annex their territory. In this, with the assistance of Louis Philippe the new king of the French, he completely succeeded. In 1831 Leopold of Saxe Coburg, whose first wife had been the Princess Charlotte (see p. 881), was chosen by the Belgians as their king, and married one of the daughters of Louis Philippe. Though the Dutch resisted for a time, they were compelled to relinquish their hold on any part of Belgium. A French army captured from them

1834-1835

PEEL AND MELBOURNE

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the citadel of Antwerp and then retired to its own territory. The key-stone of Palmerston's policy was an alliance-not too trustful -between the constitutional monarchies of England and France, which was drawn the more tightly because the absolute government of Austria crushed all attempts at resistance in Italy, and the absolute government of Russia put down with great harshness an attempt made by Poland to assert her independence. To these two monarchies Prussia was a close ally, and Europe was thus divided into two camps, the absolute and the constitutional.

8. Peel's First Ministry. 1834-1835.-Sir Robert Peel, having been appointed Prime Minister by the king, dissolved Parliament. In an address to the electors of Tamworth, the borough for which he stood, he threw off the doctrines of the old Tories, professing himself to be a moderate but conservative reformer. This 'Tamworth manifesto,' as it was called, served his party in good stead. The Conservatives gained seat after seat, and it is probable that, if the king had had a little more patience and had allowed the ministry to fall to pieces of itself instead of dismissing it, the Conservatives would have been in a majority. As it was, though they had nearly half the House, they were still in a minority. When Parliament met, February 19, 1835, it had some difficulty in finding temporary accommodation, as the old Houses of Parliament, in which the struggles of nearly three centuries had been conducted, had been burnt to the ground in the preceding October. Peel was outvoted from the beginning, but he insisted on bringing in his measures before he would retire, and, at all events, had the satisfaction of showing that he was capable of preparing good laws as well as of giving good advice. The Liberals, however, were too angry to adopt even good laws when proposed by a minister who had risen to power by the use of the king's prerogative. They entered into an agreement with O'Connell, known, from the place where its terms were settled, as the Lichfield House Compact, and, having thus secured, by the support of the Irish members, an undivided majority, they insisted on the appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to purposes of education. They carried a succession of votes on this subject, and, on April 8, 1835, Peel resigned. He left behind him a general impression that he was the first statesman in the country.

9. Beginning of Melbourne's Second Ministry. 1835-1837.Melbourne again became Prime Minister, and Russell Home Secretary and leader of the House of Commons. The first great work of the new ministry was the passing of a Municipal Corporations

Bill, providing that corporations should be elected by the ratepayers, instead of being self-chosen as they frequently were. The Tories in the House of Lords, where they had a large majority, tried to introduce considerable alterations in it, but Peel threw them over and accepted the Bill with a few changes, so that it became law without further difficulty. Peel gained in credit by subordinating the interests of his party to those of the country, and the ministry consequently lost ground. Their weakness was exposed by the attitude which they were obliged to assume towards the Lords on another question. The Commons passed a Bill for placing Irish tithes upon the landlord instead of the tenant, adding the Appropriation Clause which they had formerly attempted to attach to the Bill for the reduction of the number of Bishops

since 1837.

(see p. 910). The Lords threw out the clause, and the ministers then withdrew the Bill. Attempts made in later years to get the Bill passed with the clause equally failed, and at last, in 1838, ministers ignominiously dropped the clause, upon which they passed the Bill through both Houses. A Government with the House of Commons and the nation at its back can in modern times defy the House of Lords. Melbourne's Government tried to defy it with the support of the House of Commons but without the support of the nation.

Banner of the Royal Arms, as borne Consequently, though some useful measures were passed, the Lords were able, in the teeth of the Government, to reject anything they disliked. 10. Queen Victoria. 1837.-On June 20, 1837, William IV. died, and was succeeded by his niece the Princess Victoria who was just over eighteen, the time of life at which heirs to the throne come of age. Her dignity and grace won her general popularity, and the ministry, which she was known to favour, regained some popularity and, after the new elections had been held in the autumn, it was, as before, supported by a small majority in the House of Commons.

II. Canada. 1837-1841.-The state of Canada at this time caused great difficulties to the ministry. Upper and Lower Canada were independent colonies, the population of the former

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Queen Victoria at her accession: engraved by Thompson after a portrait by Lane.

being almost entirely British, and the population of the latter being preponderantly French. In both there were loud complaints of the jobbery and misconduct of the Home Government, but the constitutional arrangements were such that in neither colony was the popularly elected Legislative Assembly able to influence the action of the colonial government, by which the Home Government was represented. The feeling in Lower Canada was particularly bitter, as the French, who were attached to their own ways, resented the pushing, self-satisfied behaviour of English settlers who came amongst them. The Colonial Secretary in England, Lord Glenelg, was not enough of a statesman to find a satisfactory remedy for the grievances of the colonists, and in 1837 a rebellion burst out which was, indeed, suppressed, but which alarmed the Home Government sufficiently to induce it to send Lord Durham out as Commissioner, with full powers to arrange all difficulties, sc far as he could do so in accordance with the law. Lord Durham was the ablest man of the Liberal party, but he had no tact, and was excessively self-willed. On his arrival in Canada in 1838, he transported to Bermuda eight persons connected with the rebellion, and ordered that fifteen persons who had left the colony should be put to death if they came back. As both these orders were illegal the Home Government recalled him, but they took his advice after his return, and joined together the two colonies, at the same time altering the constitution so as to give control over the executive to the Legislative Assembly. The union between the colonies, which was intended to prevent the French of Lower Canada having entirely their own way in their own colony, was proposed in 1839 and finally proclaimed in 1841. The new arrangements gave satisfaction to both colonies for the time.

12. Ireland. 1835-1841.-The condition of Ireland under the Melbourne Government was much improved, and its improvement was due to the ability and firmness of Thomas Drummond, the Under-Secretary. Hitherto the Orangemen (see p. 834), including in their ranks many magistrates, had had it all their own way in the North, where Catholics, whom they chose to oppress, seldom met with justice. Drummond did his best to enforce the law equally in all parts of Ireland, not only between Protestant and Catholic, but also between landlord and tenant. He thereby exasperated the landlords, whose ideas of right and wrong had hitherto been entirely shared by the Government. On the other hand, he so thoroughly won for himself the goodwill of the Irish Catholics, that O'Connell laid aside for a time the cry for the re

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