whose very corpse might perchance work a miracle that would cure their infirmities.
The Cabinet, despite the weakness of its action, the instability of its support, and false reports of dissensions among its Members, had held well together. Even Lords Grey and Palmerston behaved as if they had ever been on terms of fraternal amity. In July, however, Ministers began to feel that they were in office but not in power. Bill after Bill had to be withdrawn. Some of the Peelites, too, whose support was necessary, took umbrage at the effusive compliments which were bandied about between Lord John Russell and Lord George Bentinck; indeed, this feeling was shared by Sir James Graham and by Peel himself. Concessions were made to opponents to an extent that destroyed the prestige of the Ministry, which, though indispensable, was neither popular nor respected. In July, the Cabinet therefore came to the conclusion that it would be well to appeal to the country to return a new House of Commons which might fill them with fresh strength. Ministers had appointed a Committee to feel the pulse of the constituencies, of which Lord Campbell, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was one; and they reported that not a day should be lost in bringing about a Dissolution in the interests of the Party. So eager were they to go to the country at once that “it was even suggested,” says Lord Campbell, “that, to expedite the Election by a day, the Queen should dissolve Parliament in person from the Throne. I found one precedent for this since the Revolution, in Lord Eldon’s time; but I pointed out a better expedient—that the Queen should prorogue, as usual, and that, holding a Council immediately after, she should then sign the Proclamation for the Dissolution and the calling of a new Parliament, the writs going out by the post the same evening. This course was successfully adopted.”
The Dissolution took place on July 23, almost immediately after the prorogation of Parliament. The Whigs, more or less loosely in alliance with the Radicals, formed one party; the Tory Protectionists, under the leadership of Lord George Bentinck and Lord Stanley, formed a second; the Tory Free Traders, under Peel, formed a third. Discord therefore reigned throughout the whole established system of party Government, and the dissensions caused by the Free Trade settlement were aggravated by the religious controversy, as to the possibility of giving State aid to Roman Catholic education and worship. Public suspicion had been roused by a declaration which Lord John Russell had made in the House of Commons as to the expediency of establishing formal diplomatic relations with Rome. It was intensified by the Secretary at War, who included in the Army Estimates votes providing means of worship for Roman Catholic soldiers on foreign service. It was further strengthened by the promised relaxation of the rule, which virtually cut off Roman Catholic schools from all share in the Education Grant. “There was,” says Mr. Evelyn Ashley, “little enthusiasm on either side. The Free Trade Question appeared settled; and, though a more vigorous policy was anticipated from a Russell than from a Melbourne Administration, no great organic changes were expected from it. On the other hand, the remnants of the Conservative Party had nothing to hold out beyond vague professions of attachment to an ancient institution.”75 The result was the return of 337 Whig and Liberal Free Traders, and 318 Conservatives and Protectionists—the Protectionists numbering about one-half of the Conservative return.
Between the Election and the assembling of Parliament the Government was greatly disturbed by the renewed outbreak of outrages in Ireland, and of the commercial panic which had long been imminent. These two events caused Ministers to summon Parliament on the 18th of November. The panic in spring, which we traced to dearth and high prices of food-stuffs, was eased in Midsummer by the fall in prices. This, however, in its turn, produced the second panic in the autumn, for speculators had bought corn in advance at rates far above those which began to rule the market. Then money became “tight.” On the 5th of August the Bank raised the rate of discount to 5½ per cent., and Funds fell 2 per cent. in a week—from 88⅝ to 86¾. At the end of August failures to the extent of £3,000,000 were announced, and on the 1st of October the Bank of England refused to make any further advances on Stock. At the end of the week consols fell to 80½. On the 19th of October they were sold for money at 78, and for the account at 79, and Exchequer bills fell as low as 30 per cent. discount. Banking-houses of national importance now began to close their doors, and confidence vanished from the commercial world. On the 25th of October the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, in response to piteous appeals from merchants and bankers all over the country, recommended the directors of the Bank of England “to enlarge the amount of their discounts and advances upon approved security,” but that the rate of interest should be 8 per cent., so as “to retain this operation within reasonable limits.” They were promised an indemnity if this course led them to infringe the restrictions of the Bank Act. As the offer of advances at 8 per cent. was not tempting, the Bank never required to break the law, which established a fixed ratio between their gold and their securities, but the announcement that the Bank Act was virtually suspended, restored confidence by restoring hope. Lord Campbell seems to indicate in his Autobiography that Ministers themselves were frightened, “there being an apprehension that the dividends may not be paid, and that the Bank of England may stop, and that there may be a pecuniary crash, public and private.” All through this crisis Sir Robert Peel’s Bank Act was virulently attacked as being one of the causes of the distress. He himself behaved with signal generosity. He recognised the necessity for giving way to popular prejudices at a time of panic, and when the Queen informed him at Windsor that Lord John Russell had decided virtually to suspend the Act, he observed that the step was
LORD PALMERSTON.
justifiable in the circumstances, and that he would support the Bill of Indemnity promised to the Bank. That the attacks on Peel were unfair, seems evident from the fact that the suspension of the Act had no practical, though it had a moral, effect on the Money Market. No indemnity was needed, so that, whatever improvement followed, it could not be due to the banks expanding their issues, or to their system of advancing more generously on securities.
Next came the dismal Irish Question. The Cabinet had, after some controversy, arrived at the conclusion that they must bring in a Coercion Bill for Ireland, although they were fully aware that they exposed themselves to the taunt that they had turned out Sir Robert Peel’s Government for proposing to introduce one. But the case was urgent. That crime had increased to an appalling extent in Ireland is indicated by the fact that Sir Robert
QUEEN’S COLLEGE, BELFAST.
Peel, resisting a very natural temptation to retaliate on his adversaries, supported the Government and asked the House of Commons to pass the Bill. His generosity is enshrined in one phrase of his speech—“The best reparation that can be made to the last Government will be to assist the present Government in passing this law.” The Bill was carried by a majority of 213.
Some of the murders in Ireland at the end of the year were truly of a revolting character. Here is an example. A farmer named St. John, who was done to death near Lisnamrock, in county Tipperary, had a dispute with his younger brother about the possession of a farm. The younger brother seems to have been in the right, and this roused local feeling. On the 16th of December a party of men went at night, and, dragging the elder St. John out of bed, ripped his body open and cut off his head before his wife’s eyes. There was, in fact, an epidemic of crime in the land. Murder was the remedy that was applied to redress all kinds of grievances or wrongs, and everybody went about the ordinary affairs of life armed to the teeth.
What was worse, too, was the hostility of the priesthood to the Government, and one manifestation of it was regarded as particularly offensive by her Majesty. That was the Papal Memorandum condemning the Queen’s Colleges. Although Lord John Russell had actually drafted a Bill legalising the renewal of diplomatic relations with Rome, the Pope and the Roman Catholic clergy made but a sorry recompense for his goodwill. The Sacred Congregation denounced the Queen’s Colleges—“an ungrateful return,” writes Lord Palmerston in a letter to Lord Minto,76 which “can only be explained on the supposition that it was extorted by intrigue and false representations made at Rome by McHale, and that the Pope acted ignorantly, and without knowing the mischief he was doing.” Lord Clarendon, the Irish Viceroy, thought that good results might follow the visit of a confidential