XXXV.

1835.

CHAP. tried the case of the rioters declared "to be worse than death itself." The Riot Act was twice read by the sheriff, and tranquillity was only restored, on the second night of the rioting, by the entry of a troop of dragoons whom the lord-lieutenant summoned up from Edinburgh. The ringleaders in the disturbances were after1835, 6, 7. wards tried in the Justiciary Court and severely punished, by eighteen months' and two years' imprisonment.1

1 Ann. Reg.

21.

tions, and

The Irish elections, however, turned the scale against Irish elec- the new Ministry. It soon appeared that a compact, junction of express or implied, had been made between the Engand Catho- lish Liberals and the Irish Catholics, for the purpose lies there. of subverting the Government of Sir R. Peel, and

Liberals

that the whole influence of the Romish priesthood,
with O'Connell at their head, was to be exerted
by the most unscrupulous means against them. The
agitators went round as rapidly as a wheel of well-
drilled troops on a review. Nothing more was heard of
the "base, bloody, and brutal Whigs." On the hustings
at Dublin, Mr O'Connell said: "I am still for the repeal-
sink or swim, live or die, I am for the repeal. And here
I proclaim, by everything sacred, to those who are most
opposed to me, that I am ready to concur with them,
and make with them the transition not only free from
danger, but perfectly safe." Lists of the candidates to
be supported by the coalition of Liberals and Catholics
were published, and they were everywhere supported, and
their opponents resisted, by the whole strength, physical
and spiritual, of that formidable coalition. The voters
were collected in their chapels by the priests, and led
forth to the poll under threats of being refused all the
rites, and visited with all the punishments, of the Church,
if they failed to vote for the O'Connell candidate.
Every one who voted for the opposite candidate was
threatened with instant death. The Knight of Kerry,
having started as candidate for the county of the same

XXXV.

1835.

name, which he had represented for thirty years in Par- CHAP. liament, was immediately assailed, in the most violent manner, by O'Connell, though he had spent his life in restraining the impetuosity of the Orangemen. "Every one," said he," who dares to vote for the Knight of Kerry, shall have a death's-head and cross bones painted on his door." Though supported by nearly all the property, intelligence, and respectability of the county, he was defeated by the priesthood. Of a candidate for New Ross, who refused to enlist under his banner, O'Connell said, "Whoever shall support him, his shop shall be desertedno man shall pass his threshold-let no man deal with him-let no woman speak to him-let the children laugh him to scorn." Mr Sheil, another Catholic leader, said, "If any Catholic should vote for him (the Protestant candidate), I will supplicate the throne of the Almighty that he may be shown mercy in the next world, but I ask no mercy for him in this." O'Connell's principles were repeal of the Union, triennial parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot; yet he received the votes of the family and retainers of the late Lord-Chancellor of Ireland. The coalition was everywhere conspicuous, and with such success were its efforts carried out by the well-drilled and organised priesthood, that a decided preponderance of the members returned was in the Liberal interest; and no room remained for doubt that by their means the majority in Great Britain for Sir R. Peel would be overcome, and a majority, though a very slight one, obtained for the Liberals in the ii. 209. united Parliament.

1 Ann. Reg.

1835, 15,

16; Mart.

on the

"Parliament met on the 19th February, and the first 22. thing of course done was to proceed to the election of a Division Speaker. Upon this question, by common consent, the choice of a parties resolved to make trial of their strength. Lord Speaker. Francis Egerton, one of the members for Lancashire, 1835. moved that Sir C. Manners Sutton, who for eighteen

Feb. 19,

1835.

CHAP. years had filled the chair with the unanimous approbaXXXV. tion of all parties in the house, should be re-elected; and the motion was seconded by Sir C. Burrell. On the other hand, Mr Denison, one of the members for Surrey, proposed Mr Abercromby, a gentleman of talents at the bar, and strongly supported by the Devonshire family, of which he had long been the confidential adviser; and he was seconded by Mr Orde. The division was looked to with great anxiety by all parties, as it was well understood that it would be decisive of the fate of the Ministry by testing the comparative strength of parties in the new house. After a long debate, in which, as usual on such occasions, every topic was touched on except that really in the minds of the speakers, the division took place in the fullest house on record, there being 626 members present. It showed a majority of ten votes for Mr Abercromby, the numbers being 316 to 306. This division was by far the most important of any which had taken place since the passing of the Reform Bill, and it brought out in clear colours the real and lasting effects of that measure. Of the English members, a great majority of the county representatives voted for Sir Charles Sutton, and a majority of 23 supported him, including the borough members; and of the Scotch, 31 voted for Mr Abercromby, and 18 for the late Speaker, still leaving a majority of 10 for Sir C. Sutton. But the Irish members at once cast the balance the other way; for 61 voted for Mr Abercromby, and only 41 for Sir C. Sutton, leaving the latter, upon the whole, in a minority of ten votes. Two things were evident from this memorable division, in which the future of England for the next half-century was clearly foreshadowed. The first was, that the Ministry was entirely, on party questions, at the mercy of the Irish Catholic members; 1 the second, that the 1835, 35. county members of the whole empire were outvoted by the borough, in the proportion of 35 to 20, and

1 Parl. Deb. xxvi. 1;

Ann. Reg.

that a large majority of the former had declared for the CHAP. Conservative side.*

XXXV.

1835.

23.

the Address.

It was at first thought that Sir R. Peel would resign on this defeat; but being deeply impressed with the Division on responsibility of his situation, and the duty which he Feb. 24, owed to the Sovereign who had appealed to him in his 1835. distress, he resolved to persevere, and not to retire till, on some vital question of ministerial policy, a majority of the House of Commons declared against him. On the 24th February, the House met for the despatch of business, and the Speech from the Throne, after lamenting the destruction of the two Houses by fire, congratulated the country on the commercial prosperity which was universal, but "deeply laments that the agricultural interest continues in a state of deep depression. I recommend to your consideration whether it may not be in your power, after providing for the exigencies of the public service, and consistently with the steadfast maintenance of the public credit, to devise a method for mitigating the pressure of those local charges which bear heavily on the owners and occupiers of land, and for distributing the burden of them more equally over other descriptions of property." The Address, which was moved in the Commons by Lord Sandon, was as usual an echo of the Speech; but when it was brought forward, an amendment was moved by Lord Morpeth, which obviously put the very existence of the

-Ann. Reg. 1835, p. 3; Parl. Deb. xxvii.

The candidates voted for each other, and the four tellers are not in

Icluded in the above enumeration.

XXXV.

1835.

CHAP. Ministry at stake. It was cautiously worded, and contained no declaration of want of confidence in the Ministry; but expressed a hope that municipal corporations would be placed under vigilant popular control, that the undoubted grievances of Dissenters would be considered, abuses in the Church of England and Ireland removed, and lamented the dissolution of Parliament as an unnecessary measure, by which the progress of these and other reforms had been interrupted and endangered. This amendment, which foreshadowed the future policy of the Opposition, and contained a direct censure upon Ministers for dissolving Parliament, gave rise to a long and animated debate, which lasted four nights, but terminated in another triumph of the Liberals, the numbers being 309 to 302, leaving a majority of SEVEN against the Ministers. This majority, like the former, was entirely made up of the Irish Roman Catholic votes; for of the English members who voted, a majority of 32 was in favour of Sir R. Peel; of the English and Scotch taken together, the majority was still 16; but the balance was cast the other way by the Irish, for there were 59 against him, and only 36 in his favour. Such was the gratitude 1835,84-97; which the Romish clergy and members evinced to the xxvi. man who had endangered his own political character to open to them the doors of Parliament !

1 Ann. Reg.

Parl. Deb.

24.

King's reception of

When the Address, thus amended, was presented to the King, his majesty replied: "I learn with regret that you the Address do not concur with me in the policy of the appeal which as amended. I have recently made to the sense of my people. I never

have exercised, and never will exercise, any of the prerogatives which I hold, except for the single purpose of promoting the great end for which they are intrusted to me-the public good;2 and I confidently trust that no 2 Ann. Reg. measure conducive to the general interests will be endan1835, 101, gered or interrupted in its progress by the opportunity I have afforded to my faithful and loyal subjects of express

201.