Romish disabilities to a greater extent than he had calculated, and being apprehensive that his coronation oath was inconsistent with so large a measure of concession, he refused any longer to countenance the bill. Finding him immovable, the ministry determined upon relinquishing their plan; but permission was requested for the lords Grenville and Howick, both to detail in parliament their opinions upon the general policy of such a measure, and to submit the matter again, when circumstances should invite, to the royal consideration. The latter stipulation proved so disagreeable to the king, that, instead of accepting it, he required from the applicants a written pledge, to abstain hereafter from bringing forward any such concession to Roman Ccatholics as that which he had recently declined. He was told in reply, that no such pledge could be given constitutionally, or consistently with that oath which is taken by every privy councillor. This answer occasioned an abrupt dismissal of the ministry. The discarded statesmen then lost no time in organising an opposition, which placed concession to the Romanists in the fore-ground of its party welfare.

§ 9. The Whig party, however, which thus patronized the very sect that it had formerly laboured so strenuously to crush, was far from popular. Hence repeated motions made in parliament for Catholic Emancipation, as the phrase ran, were negatived by considerable, but decreasing majorities. At length, Mr. Canning, habitually the advocate of Tory politics, came over to the other side, on this much-agitated question. With all that splendid eloquence which was at his command, he moved, on the 22nd of June, 1812, that the house should pledge itself to take into serious consideration, early in the next session of parliament, the Roman Catholic disabilities, with a view to such a final conciliatory disposal of them as might conduce to the national peace and strength, the stability of the protestant establishment, and the general satisfaction of all classes. This motion was carried by a decisive majority of 235 against 106. In the Lords a similar motion was defeated only by a single vote: but such was the turn now taken by public opinion, that many people thought no disappointment whatever likely to have met the Romanists in the upper house, had not a recent meeting in Dublin claimed relief as a matter of right, and menaced opposition with exemplary vengeance. The session

of 1813, accordingly, was opened with appearances very much in favour of the Romanists, and their cause went victoriously through some very hard parliamentary fighting; but when it seemed on the point of complete success in the House of Commons, Charles Abbot, the speaker, afterwards lord Colchester, moved, that, among the concessions, a seat in either house of parliament should not be included. This motion was carried by a majority of four, and the advocates of the measure immediately threw it up in disgust, declaring that such relief as did not include admission to the legislature was unworthy of Romish acceptance.7 In subsequent years the question of relief was repeatedly brought forward, but without success. The obstacles to it in the throne were by no means removed, although a deep feeling of religion had been very far from so conspicuous there as in former years, under George III. Towards the close of autumn, in 1810, that exemplary sovereign sank into an insanity from which he never recovered. His eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, who was appointed regent in the following February, acted as if bound by a nice sense of honour to use that delegated authority for the furtherance of such objects as his venerable parent would approve, in case of restoration to reason. He proved also himself, on succeeding

to the crown in 1820, averse from the admission of Romanists to political power. His next brother likewise, Frederic, Duke of York, whose manly bearing upon all occasions, and exemplary diligence as commander-in-chief, rendered him popular in spite of some immoral follies at one time, was entirely against further concession to the Romanists. That prince's anxiety upon this subject reached even to the approach of death, and he wished his brother to be apprised of it, if painfully pressed to give way. Most of the Tory party too, a great majority of the people, and nearly all the clergy, remained of opinion notwithstanding the arguments and importunities perseveringly urged by the Whigs and Romanists, that adherents to the papacy could not safely be trusted with political power, in a state essentially protestant. But so incessant was the clamour for relief, that all men became weary of resistance, and heard impatiently of every fresh exertion to stir the catholic question. § 10. As the elective franchise, however, had been conceded,

'Butler, ii. 267.

to Romanists, in Ireland, in 1793, although it continued closed against them in England, they would not allow themselves to want strenuous advocates in the House of Commons. The Irish priesthood of their church, emerging from the extreme depression under which it had long been kept, had now taken a prominent part in politics. On the other hand, the influence of Irish protestantism had materially declined within the last few years. The union, by contracting the number of government situations, was the cause of removal to many protestant families the low prices of agricultural produce which followed upon the peace of 1814, were another such cause, and the operation of this was very wide. The well conditioned yeoman could not endure the alteration in his circumstances which thus came upon him. He put up to sale such of his property as was convertible into money, and emigrated to America. In his place came a Romish neighbour, who had been habituated to a far lower degree of artificial comfort.s Thus the papal priesthood was acquiring every day a more extensive field. The extraordinary power, however, obtained by Irish Romanism, was chiefly attributable to the Catholic Association, an organised confederacy, which soon wielded the populace at its will. This formidable body levied contributions, called catholic rent, on the whole Romish community, a considerable portion of them coming, in very small sums, from the peasantry, although perhaps the poorest in Europe. The alleged purpose of this collection was the promotion of catholic emancipation by every means accessible to money. The magnitude of the instrument thus provided may be estimated from the fact, that in the single month of November, 1824, the sum collected was 30077. 10s. 4d. Of the contributors, very many were far from volunteers; but denunciations of the priests from their altars, and intimidating importunities of active neighbours, allowed no Romanist any choice. The result of such a powerful engine was the rapid spread of a violent agitation all over Ireland. Until 1823, the great body of Irish Romanists had thought little about political disabilities, but when the Catholic association had once thoroughly taken possession of the country, the whole Romish population became wild upon every mention of emancipation,

• Evidence of Daniel O'Connell, Esq. before the House of Commons, March 1,

1825. Evidence on the State of Ireland. Lond. 1825, p. 170.

and it was the word that oftenest met the ear. Yet a great degree of misapprehension commonly prevailed as to the object in view. Some of the people supposed it to be the restoration of the forfeited estates; others, the legal establishment of the Romish religion. At length the association assumed so completely the tone of a menacing independent legislature, levying money at its will for purposes of its own, that in 1825 an act of parliament was passed for suppressing it. Ostensibly this act was obeyed, but a new association was immediately formed, in such a manner as to evade the law. During the parliamentary sessions of this and the preceding years, numerous witnesses from Ireland had been examined before committees of the two houses, with a view of throwing some light upon the violent agitation that convulsed that country. Most of these drew flattering pictures of the profound satisfaction, and consequent tranquillity to be expected from emancipation; although they generally were so cautious as to deny that this concession alone would still the strife of which Britain had become so weary. These light reservations were, however, little noticed by the customary advocates of emancipation. They constantly spoke of that measure as a complete remedy for all the ills of Ireland, and such a view of it daily gained ground.

§ 11. In 1828, catholic emancipation was nevertheless again unsuccessful in parliament, but it gained indirectly an important step by the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts. Numerous petitions were presented against them, and on the 26th of February, Lord John Russell made a motion for their repeal. Practically they had long fallen into desuetude, the annual indemnity act screening protestant dissenters from their operation. It was, however, argued, that laws bearing a character of needless intolerance ought not to be allowed even to slumber in the statutebook, and besides, that enough of their spirit was left untouched by the annual indemnity, to make them still convertible into

9"No Catholic clergyman has the slightest disposition to derange that establishment" (the protestant)?—"Not the slightest." (Evidence of the Rev. M. Collins, June 9, 1824. Evid. on Ireland, p. 58.) "If we were freed from the disabilities under which we labour, we have no mind, and no thought, and no will, but that which would lead us to incorporate ourselves fully and essentially with this

great kingdom; for it would be our greatest pride to share in the glories and the riches of England.”- "If the question, commonly called catholic emancipation, were carried, are you of opinion that religious differences would cease to agitate the public mind in Ireland?-I am very confident they would." Evidence of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Doyle, March 16, 1825. Ibid. pp. 383. 393.

engines of oppression. That act did not really render a dissenter eligible to corporate offices; it only exempted him from penalties, in case he should not have taken the sacramental test. An action against him for this neglect could still only by accident miscarry, and even if it did, would leave him liable to the costs. It was obviously improper that any such liability should continue, and there was very little disposition to wish it in the public mind. Persons who were as averse as ever from the concessions desired by Romanists, felt no objection to those now sought by dissenters. They considered the Romish doctrines as inextricably mixed up with politics, and therefore intolerable in parties legislating for a protestant state. Dissenting doctrines were viewed as mere modifications of religious opinion, for which no man was responsible to civil society, but only to God and his own soul. Hence the repeal sought occasioned very little opposition in parliament, and very little notice in the country. It was not, however, deemed proper to weaken the ecclesiastical institutions of the nation by this concession. The act stated that "the protestant episcopal church of England and Ireland, and the doctrine, discipline, and government thereof, and the protestant presbyterian church of Scotland, and the doctrine discipline, and government thereof, are by the laws of this realm severally established, permanently and inviolably." Hence it did not leave corporate officers at liberty to use any power that might come from their several situations, injuriously to the religious establishment of the country. They were to make a solemn declaration, that no power arising from their corporate capacities should be turned by them to the detriment of the church establishment.'

§ 12. During the autumn of 1828, rumours were afloat of an intention in the government to concede the Romish claims. The Great Captain, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, a man whose straightforward integrity, and deep insight into human