worked in the two latter countries by the Reform Bill CHAP. than the former.*

XXXVIII.

1841.

Ministers

Houses, and

Parliament met on the 19th August, and Mr Shaw 58. Lefevre was elected Speaker without a division. The Defeat of trial of strength, to which the country looked with such in both anxiety, came on upon the amendment to the Address, their resig which was moved by Mr Stuart Wortley, which was: "That nation. the house most respectfully express their regret at the recent increase of expenditure, its determination to provide for that increase, and its carnest desire to promote

XXXVIII.

1841.

CHAP. the welfare of her Majesty's subjects, and respectfully represent to her Majesty the necessity that her Ministers should enjoy the confidence of the country, which the present Administration did not possess." The debate lasted four nights, and turned chiefly on the weakness of the Government, their manifold tergiversations, and the want of any settled principle in their administration, both foreign and domestic. Sir R. Peel, whose speech was loudly cheered, declared his determination to adopt a system entirely opposite. "If I exercise power," said he, "it shall be upon my conception, perhaps imperfect, perhaps mistaken, but my sincere conception, of public duty. That power I will not hold unless I can hold it conscientiously, in consistence with the maintenance of my opinions; and that power I will relinquish the moment I am satisfied that I am not supported in the maintenance of them by the confidence of this house and the people of this country." "I am convinced that if this country," said Lord John Russell in reply, "is governed by enlarged and liberal counsels, that its power and might will spread and increase, and its influence become greater and greater, and that Liberal principles will prevail, and civilisation will be spread to all parts of the globe, and you will bless millions by your acts and mankind by your union." Ministers were supported by O'Connell and the whole strength of the Irish Catholic members, as well as the Liberal majority in Scotland. But such was their unpopularity in England, that upon a division which took place on the fourth night of the debate, they were left in a minority of 91, the numbers being 360 to 269 in a house of 629, the largest upon record. The majority in the House of Lords was 72, the numbers being 168 to 96. After this decisive expression of the opinion of both houses, but one course remained to Ministers; and accordingly, in lix. 8, 16, answer to the Address, the Queen said, "Ever anxious to Anu. Reg. listen to the advice of my Parliament, I will take immediate measures for the formation of a new Administration."1 And on 30th August, Lord Melbourne announced in the

Aug. 30.

1 Parl. Deb.

476, 483;

1841,

196.

169,

XXXVIII.

1841.

Lords, and Lord John Russell in the Commons, that CHAP. Ministers only held office till their successors were appointed, and both houses immediately after adjourned. The resignation of Ministers was of course accepted, and the Queen sent for Sir R. Peel to form a new Administration.

59.

on the fall

Thus fell the Government of the Whigs, and fell never again to rise. The Liberal or movement party have been Reflections in power, indeed, for the greater part of the subsequent of the period, and to all appearance they are destined for a long Whigs. period to hold the reins. But the Liberal is very different from the old Whig party-much more opposed to it than ever the Tory had been. These two rival parties, which so long divided the empire, were, after the termination of the contest with the Stuarts, and till the advent of the French Revolution, divided on no great questions. of social or national policy; they were merely opposite competitors for power. But the case is very different with the Liberals, who, since the fall of the Whigs, have succeeded them in the administration of affairs. The proof of this is decisive; it is to be found in their legislative acts. They have been obliged to substitute favour to the Roman Catholics for the stern hostility of the Revolution; Free Trade for the protective system, which for a century and a half had regulated their policy ; and unrestricted admission of foreign shipping for the Navigation Laws, the bequest of Cromwell, and which they had so long held forth as the palladium of the empire. They have been compelled to exchange concession to the great towns for the aristocratic rule of the great families. Nor have they, in doing so, yielded merely to that change of policy which every party, even the most consistent, must adopt from the changes of times and circumstances. The alteration has been so great, and has affected so deeply their private interests, that it has evidently been the result, not of change of views, but of necessity; for they have been compelled to abandon the Corn Laws, which in the long-run, when the effect of

XXXVIII.

1841.

60.

to the Re

form Bill.

CHAP. the gold discoveries has ceased, will halve their incomes, and accept, without any reduction, of the twelve millions of direct taxation exclusively affecting the land, the succession-tax, which in a few generations will double their debts. It was commonly said at the time that this fall was The fall of entirely owing to the incapacity and vacillation of the the Whigs was owing Cabinet which then directed the affairs of the nation, and the want of business habits, which arose from their high birth and connections. But a very little consideration must be sufficient to convince every one that this was by no means the cause of the catastrophe. The Whig Cabinet, when it was overturned, contained many able and eloquent men, and they had sustained themselves with credit and talent against the most formidable Opposition, both in point of numbers and capacity, of which mention is made in parliamentary annals. True, their measures were vacillating, often contradictory, and sometimes little consistent with the dignity of a party really ruling the State; but the reason of that was that they did not really rule the State. After the election of 1835, their majority was so small, seldom exceeding, on a vital question, fifteen or twenty in the House of Commons, that they could never be sure of carrying anything; and like a ship contending at sea against an adverse wind, they were obliged to trim their sails, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another, in order to secure any, even the smallest, progress in head-way. The deficit in the revenue which weighed so heavily upon them, and was the immediate cause of their fall, arose indeed from the monetary system, for which they had been the first to contend, but which had been latterly cordially accepted by their opponents, and sanctioned by an unanimous vote of the House of Commons. The real cause of their overthrow is to be found in the constitution of Parliament which they themselves had forced upon the Sovereign, and the fatal mistake committed by Earl Grey in supposing that the boroughs, returning three-fifths of the entire representation of the United Kingdom, would fall

XXXVIII. 1841.

under the dominion of the territorial magnates in their CHAP. vicinity, because the nomination boroughs had hitherto done so. The result of the elections in 1841, when 220 borough members in the United Kingdom were on the Liberal side, and only 181 on the Conservative, while in the counties 181 were on the Conservative, and only 72 on the Liberal, proves how completely he was mistaken in his anticipations, and how utterly erroneous was his opinion that the change was aristocratic in its tendency. The result proves that the Whigs put themselves into schedule A as completely by the Reform Bill, as they fondly flattered themselves they had put their opponents.

macy of

was de

form Bill.

But this is not all. Not only has the glory departed 61. from the old Whig families from the effects of the change The suprethey introduced into the constitution, but, what is still England more extraordinary, and certainly was not intended, the stroyed ruling power has departed from the realm of England. by th Strange as this result is, and little as it was anticipated from a change which the great majority of the English so vehemently supported, there is nothing more certain than that it has taken place. Ever since Sir R. Peel's dissolution in 1835, a decided majority in the House of Commons has been obtained from the Scotch and Irish members, and them alone. If the power had been vested in the English alone, a Conservative Ministry would have been in power, and a Conservative policy pursued by the Government, from that day to this. Even in the election of 1841, when the Conservatives for a period obtained the majority, it was by the aid of a majority of 53 in Ireland and Scotland that the Liberals were enabled to make head at all against the majority of 129 against them in England; and since that time the majority of the Liberals has been entirely composed of Irish and Scotch members; and that of the 21 which overthrew Lord Derby's Administration in 1852, was entirely drawn from the representatives of these two nations. Nothing but this extraneous power, joined to that of the

VOL. VI.

2 F