THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA
1833-1838
The turn of the tide with the Whigs--The two voices in the
Cabinet--Lord John and Ireland--Althorp and the Poor Law--The
Melbourne Administration on the rocks--Peel in power--The question
of Irish tithes--Marriage of Lord John--Grievances of
Nonconformists--Lord Melbourne's influence over the Queen--Lord
Durham's mission to Canada--Personal sorrow.
HIGH-WATER mark was reached with the Whigs in the spring of 1833, and
before the tide turned, two years later, Lord Grey and his colleagues
had, in various directions, done much to justify the hopes of their
followers. The result of the General Election in the previous December
was seen when the first Reformed Parliament assembled at Westminster, on
January 29, 1833. Lord Althorp, as Leader of the House of Commons, found
himself with 485 members at his back, whilst Sir Robert Peel confronted
him with about 170 stalwart Tories. After all, the disparity was hardly
as great as it looked, for it was a mixed multitude which followed
Althorp, and in its ranks were the elements of conflict and even of
revolt. The Whigs had made common cause with the Radicals when the
Reform Bill stood in jeopardy every hour, but the triumph of the measure
imperilled this grand alliance. Not a few of the Whigs had been
faint-hearted during the struggle, and were now somewhat alarmed at its
overwhelming success. Their inclination was either to rest on their
laurels or to make haste slowly. The Radicals, on the contrary, longed
for new worlds to conquer. They were full of energy and enthusiasm, and
desired nothing so much as to ride abroad redressing human wrongs. The
traditions of the past were dear to the Whigs, but the Radicals thrust
such considerations impatiently aside, and boasted that 1832 was the
Year 1 of the people. It was impossible that such warring elements
should permanently coalesce; the marvel is that they held together so
long.
[Sidenote: REMEDIAL MEASURES]
Even in the Cabinet there were two voices. The Duke of Richmond was at
heart a Tory masquerading in the dress of a Whig. Lord Durham was a
Radical of an outspoken and uncompromising type, in spite of his
aristocratic trappings and his great possessions. Nevertheless, the new
era opened, not merely with a flourish of trumpets, but with notable
work in the realm of practical statesmanship. Fowell Buxton took up the
work of Wilberforce on behalf of the desolate and oppressed, and lived
to bring about the abolition of slavery; whilst Shaftesbury's charity
began at home with the neglected factory children. Religious toleration
was represented in the Commons by the Jewish Relief Bill, and its
opposite in the Lords by the defeat of that measure. Althorp amended the
Poor Laws, and, though neither he nor his colleagues would admit the
fact, the bill rendered, by its alterations in the provisions of
settlement and the bold attack which it made on the thraldom of labour,
the repeal of the Corn Laws inevitable. Grant renewed the charter of the
East India Company, but not its monopoly of the trade with the East.
Roebuck brought forward a great scheme of education, whilst Grote
sought to introduce the ballot, and Hume, in the interests of economy,
but at the cost of much personal odium, assailed sinecures and
extravagance in every shape and form. Ward drew attention to the abuses
of the Irish Church, and did much by his exertions to lessen them; and
Lord John Russell a year or two later brought about a civic revolution
by the Municipal Reform Act--a measure which, next to the reform of
Parliament, did more to broaden and uplift the political life of the
people than any other enactment of the century. Ireland blocked the way
of Lord Grey's Ministry, and the wild talk and hectoring attitude of
O'Connell, and his bold bid for personal ascendency, made it difficult
for responsible statesmen to deal calmly with the problems by which they
were confronted.
It is true that Lord John was not always on the side of the angels of
progress and redress. He blundered occasionally like other men, and
sometimes even hesitated strangely to give effect to his convictions,
and therefore it would be idle as well as absurd to attempt to make out
that he was consistent, much less infallible. The Radicals a little
later complained that he talked of finality in reform, and supported the
coercive measures of Stanley in Ireland, and opposed Hume in his efforts
to secure the abolition of naval and military sinecures. He declined to
support a proposed investigation of the pension list. He set his face
against Tennyson's scheme for shortening the duration of Parliaments,
and Grote had to reckon with his hostility to the adoption of the
ballot. But in spite of it all, he was still, in Sydney Smith's happy
phrase, to all intents and purposes 'Lord John Reformer.' No one doubted
his honesty or challenged his motives. The compass by which Russell
steered his course through political life might tremble, but men felt
that it remained true.
[Sidenote: FIRST VISIT TO IRELAND]
Ireland drew forth his sympathies, but he failed to see any way out of
the difficulty. 'I wish I knew what to do to help your country,' were
his words to Moore, 'but, as I do not, it is of no use giving her smooth
words, as O'Connell told me, and I must be silent.' It was not in his
nature, however, to sit still with folded hands. He held his peace, but
quietly crossed the Channel to study the problem on the spot. It was his
first visit to the distressful country for many years, and he wished
Moore to accompany him as guide, philosopher, and friend. He assured the
poet that he would allow him to be as patriotic as he pleased about 'the
first flower of the earth and first gem of the sea' during the proposed
sentimental journey. 'Your being a rebel,' were his words, 'may somewhat
atone for my being a Cabinet Minister.' Moore, however, was compelled to
decline the tempting proposal by the necessity of making ends meet by
sticking to the hack work which that universal provider of knowledge,
Dr. Lardner, had set him in the interests of the 'Cabinet
Encyclopaedia'--an enterprise to which men of the calibre of Mackintosh,
Southey, Herschell, and even Walter Scott had lent a helping hand.
Lord John landed in Ireland in the beginning of September 1833, and went
first to Lord Duncannon's place at Bessborough. Afterwards he proceeded
to Waterford to visit Lord Ebrington, his colleague in the
representation of Devonshire. He next found his way to Cork and
Killarney, and he wrote again to Moore urging him to 'hang Dr. Lardner
on his tree of knowledge,' and to join him at the eleventh hour. Moore
must have been in somewhat reduced circumstances at the moment--for he
was a luxurious, pleasure-loving man, who never required much persuasion
to throw down his work--since such an appeal availed nothing. Meanwhile
Lord John had carried Lord Ebrington back to Dublin, and they went
together to the North of Ireland. The visit to Belfast attracted
considerable attention; Lord John's services over the Reform Bill were
of course fresh in the public mind, and he was entertained in orthodox
fashion at a public dinner. This short tour in Ireland did much to open
his eyes to the real grievances of the people, and, fresh from the scene
of disaffection, he was able to speak with authority when the late
autumn compelled the Whig Cabinet to throw everything else aside in
order to devise if possible some measure of relief for Ireland. Stanley
was Chief Secretary, and, though one of the most brilliant men of his
time alike in deed and word, unfortunately his haughty temper and
autocratic leanings were a grievous hindrance if a policy of coercion
was to be exchanged for the more excellent way of conciliation.
O'Connell opposed his policy in scathing terms, and attacked him
personally with bitter invective, and in the end there was open war
between the two men.
[Sidenote: POOR LAW REFORM]
Lord Grey, now that Parliamentary Reform had been conceded, was
developing into an easy-going aristocratic Whig of somewhat contracted
sympathies, and Stanley, though still in the Cabinet, was apparently
determined to administer the affairs of Ireland on the most approved
Tory principles. Althorp, Russell, and Duncannon were men whose
sympathies leaned more or less decidedly in the opposite direction, and
therefore, especially with O'Connell thundering at the gates with the
Irish people and the English Radicals at his back, a deadlock was
inevitable. Durham, in ill health and chagrin, and irritated by the
stationary, if not reactionary, attitude of certain members of the Grey
Administration, resigned office in the spring of 1833. Goderich became
Privy Seal, and this enabled Stanley to exchange the Irish Secretaryship
for that of the Colonies. He had driven Ireland to the verge of revolt,
but he had nevertheless made an honest attempt to grapple with many
practical evils, and his Education Bill was a piece of constructive
statesmanship which placed Roman Catholics on an equality with
Protestants. Early in the session of 1834 Althorp introduced the Poor
Law Amendment Act, and the measure was passed in July. The changes which
it brought about were startling, for its enactments were drastic. This
great economic measure came to the relief of a nation in which 'one
person in every seven was a pauper.' The new law limited relief to
destitution, prohibited out-door help to the able-bodied, beyond medical
aid, instituted tests to detect imposture, confederated parishes into
unions, and substituted large district workhouses for merely local
shelters for the destitute. In five years the poor rate was reduced by
three millions, and the population, set free by the new interpretation
of 'Settlement,' were able, in their own phrase, to follow the work and
to congregate accordingly wherever the chance of a livelihood offered.
One great question followed hard on the heels of another.
In the King's Speech at the opening of Parliament, the consideration of
Irish tithes was recommended, for extinguishing 'all just causes of
complaint without injury to the rights and property of any class of
subjects or to any institution in Church or State.' Mr. Littleton
(afterwards Lord Hatherton), who had succeeded Stanley as Irish
Secretary accordingly introduced a new Tithe Bill, the object of which
was to change the tithe first into a rent-charge payable by the
landlord, and eventually into land tax. The measure also proposed that
the clergy should be content with a sum which fell short of the amount
to which they were entitled by law, so that riot and bloodshed might be
avoided by lessened demands. On the second reading of the bill, Lord
John frankly avowed the faith that was in him, a circumstance which led
to unexpected results. He declared that, as he understood it, the aim of
the bill was to determine and secure the amount of the tithe. The
question of appropriation was to be kept entirely distinct. If the
object of the bill was to grant a certain sum to the Established Church
of Ireland, and the question was to end there, his opinion of it might
be different. But he understood it to be a bill to secure a certain
amount of property and revenue destined by the State to religious and
charitable purposes, and if the State should find that it was not
appropriated justly to the purposes of religious and moral instruction,
it would then be the duty of Parliament to consider the necessity of a
different appropriation. His opinion was that the revenues of the Church
of Ireland were larger than necessary for the religious and moral
instruction of the persons belonging to that Church, and for the
stability of the Church itself.
Lord John did not think it would be advisable or wise to mix the
question of appropriation with the question of amount of the revenues;
but when Parliament had vindicated the property in tithes, he should
then be prepared to assert his opinion with regard to their
appropriation. If, when the revenue was once secured, the assertion of
that opinion should lead him to differ and separate from those with whom
he was united by political connection, and for whom he entertained the
deepest private affection, he should feel much regret; yet he should, at
whatever cost and sacrifice, do what he should consider his bounden
duty--namely, do justice to Ireland.
[Sidenote: UPSETTING THE COACH]
He afterwards explained that this speech, which produced a great
impression, was prompted by the attitude of Stanley concerning the
permanence and inviolability of the Irish Church. He was, in fact,
afraid that if Stanley's statement was allowed to pass in silence by his
colleagues, the whole Government would be regarded as pledged to the
maintenance in their existing shape of the temporalities of an alien
institution. Lord John accordingly struck from his own bat, amid the
cheers of the Radicals. Stanley expressed to Sir James Graham his view
of the situation in the now familiar phrase, 'Johnny has upset the
coach.' The truth was, divided counsels existed in the Cabinet on this
question of appropriation, and Lord John's blunt deliverance, though it
did not wreck the Ministry, placed it in a dilemma. He was urged by some
of his colleagues to explain away what he had said, but he had made up
his mind and was in no humour to retract.
Palmerston, with whom he was destined to have many an encounter in
coming days, thought he ought to have been turned out of the Cabinet,
and others of his colleagues were hardly less incensed. The independent
member, in the person of Mr. Ward, who sat for St. Albans, promptly took
advantage of Russell's speech to bring forward a motion to the effect
that the Church in Ireland 'exceeds the wants of the population, and
ought to be reduced.' This proposition was elbowed out of the way by the
appointment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the revenues of the
Irish Church; but Stanley felt that his position in the Cabinet was now
untenable, and therefore retired from office in the company of the Duke
of Richmond, Lord Ripon, and Sir James Graham. The Radicals made no
secret of their glee. Ward, they held, had been a benefactor to the
party beyond their wildest dreams, for he had exorcised the evil spirits
of the Grey Administration.
Lord Grey had an opportunity at this crisis of infusing fresh vigour
into his Ministry by raising to Cabinet rank men of progressive views
who stood well with the country. Another course was, however, taken, for
the Marquis of Conyngham became Postmaster-General, the Earl of Carlisle
Privy Seal, whilst Lord Auckland went to the Admiralty, and Mr. Spring
Rice became Colonial Secretary, and so the opportunity of a genuine
reconstruction of the Government was lost. The result was, the
Government was weakened, and no one was satisfied. 'Whigs, Tories, and
Radicals,' wrote Greville, 'join in full cry against them, and the
"Times," in a succession of bitter vituperative articles very well done,
fires off its contempt and disgust at the paltry patching-up of the
Cabinet.'
Durham's retirement, though made on the score of ill-health, had not
merely cooled the enthusiasm of the Radicals towards the Grey
Administration, but had also awakened their suspicions. Lord John was
restive, and inclined to kick over the traces; whilst Althorp, whose
tastes were bucolic, had also a desire to depart. 'Nature,' he
exclaimed, 'intended me to be a grazier; but men will insist on making
me a statesman.' He confided to Lord John that he detested office to
such an extent that he 'wished himself dead' every morning when he
awoke. Meanwhile vested interests here, there, and everywhere, were
uniting their forces against the Ministry, and its sins of omission as
well as of commission were leaping to light on the platform and in the
Press. Wellington found his reputation for political sagacity agreeably
recognised, and he fell into the attitude of an oracle whose jeremiads
had come true. When Lord Grey proposed the renewal of the Coercion Act
without alteration, Lord Althorp expressed a strong objection to such a
proceeding. He had assured Littleton that the Act would not be put in
force again in its entirety, and the latter, with more candour than
discretion, had communicated the intimation to O'Connell, who bruited it
abroad.
[Sidenote: O'CONNELL THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLET]
Lord John had come to definite convictions about Ireland, and he was
determined not to remain in the Cabinet unless he was allowed to speak
out. On June 23 the Irish Tithe Bill reached the stage of committee, and
Littleton drew attention to the changes which had been introduced into
the measure--slight concessions to public opinion which Lord John felt
were too paltry to meet the gravity of the case. O'Connell threw down
the gauntlet to the Ministry, and asked the House to pass an amendment
asserting that the surplus revenues of the Church ought to be applied to
purposes of public utility. Peel laid significant stress on the divided
counsels in the Ministry, and accused Lord John of asserting that the
Irish Church was the greatest grievance of which the nation had ever had
to complain. The latter repudiated such a charge, and explained that
what he had said was that the revenues of the Church were too great for
its stability, thereby implying that he both desired and contemplated
its continued existence. Although not unwilling to support a mild
Coercion Bill, if it went hand in hand with a determined effort to deal
with abuses, he made it clear that repressive enactments without such an
effort at Reform were altogether repugnant to his sense of justice. He
declared that Coercion Acts were 'peculiarly abhorrent to those who
pride themselves on the name of Whigs;' and he added that, when such a
necessity arose, Ministers were confronted with the duty of looking
'deeper into the causes of the long-standing and permanent evils' of
Ireland. I am not prepared to continue the government of Ireland
without fully probing her condition; I am not prepared to propose bills
for coercion, and the maintenance of a large force of military and
police, without endeavouring to improve, so far as lies in my power, the
condition of the people. I will not be a Minister to carry on systems
which I think founded on bigotry and prejudice. Be the consequence what
it may, I am content to abide by these opinions, to carry them out to
their fullest extent, not by any premature declaration of mere opinion,
but by going on gradually, from time to time improving our institutions,
and, without injuring the ancient and venerable fabrics, rendering them
fit and proper mansions for a great, free, and intelligent people.' Such
a speech was worthy of Fox, and it recalls a passage in Lord John's
biography of that illustrious statesman. Fox did his best in the teeth
of prejudice and obloquy to free Ireland from the thraldom which
centuries of oppression had created: 'In 1780, in 1793, and in 1829,
that which had been denied to reason was granted to force. Ireland
triumphed, not because the justice of her claims was apparent, but
because the threat of insurrection overcame prejudice, made fear
superior to bigotry, and concession triumphant over persecution.'[9]
[Sidenote: CROSS CURRENTS]
Even O'Connell expressed his admiration of this bold and fearless
declaration, and the speech did much to increase Lord John's reputation,
both within and without the House of Commons. In answer to a letter of
congratulation, he said that his friends would make him, by their
encouragement--what he felt he was not by nature--a good speaker. 'There
are occasions,' he added, 'on which one must express one's feelings or
sink into contempt. I own I have not been easy during the period in
which I thought it absolutely necessary to suspend the assertion of my
opinions in order to secure peace in this country.' Lord John's attitude
on this occasion threw into relief his keen sense of political
responsibility, no less than the honesty and courage which were
characteristic of the man. A day or two later the Cabinet drifted on to
the rocks. The policy of Coercion was reaffirmed in spite of Althorp's
protests, and in spite also of Littleton's pledge to the contrary to
O'Connell. Generosity was not the strong point of the Irish orator, and,
to the confusion of Littleton and the annoyance of Grey, he insisted on
taking the world into his confidence from his place in Parliament. This
was the last straw. Lord Althorp would no longer serve, and Lord Grey,
harassed to death, determined no longer to lead. After all, 'Johnny' was
only one of many who upset the coach, which, in truth, turned over
because its wheels were rotten. On the evening of June 29 a meeting of
the Cabinet was held, and, in Russell's words, 'Lord Grey placed before
us the letters containing his own resignation and that of Lord Althorp,
which he had sent early in the morning to the King. He likewise laid
before us the King's gracious acceptance of his resignation, and he gave
to Lord Melbourne a sealed letter from his Majesty. Lord Melbourne, upon
opening this letter, found in it an invitation to him to undertake the
formation of a Government. Seeing that nothing was to be done that
night, I left the Cabinet and went to the Opera.'
Lord Melbourne was sent for in July, and took his place at the head of a
Cabinet which remained practically unaltered. He had been Home Secretary
under Grey, and Duncannon was now called to fill that post. The first
Melbourne Administration was short-lived, for when it had existed four
months Earl Spencer died, and Althorp, on his succession to the peerage,
was compelled to relinquish his leadership of the House of Commons.
William IV. cared little for Melbourne, and less for Russell, and, as he
wished to pick a quarrel with the Whigs, since their policy excited his
alarm, he used Althorp for a pretext. Lord Grey had professed to regard
Althorp as indispensable to the Ministry, and the King imagined that
Melbourne would adopt the same view. Although reluctant to part with
Althorp, who eagerly seized the occasion of his accession to an earldom
to retire from official life, Melbourne refused to believe that the
heavens would fall because of that fact.
There was no pressing conflict of opinion between the King and his
advisers, but William IV. nevertheless availed himself of the accident
of Althorp's elevation to the peerage to dismiss the Ministry. The
reversion of the leadership in the Commons fell naturally to Lord John,
and Melbourne was quick to recognise the fact. 'Thus invited,' says Lord
John Russell, 'I considered it my duty to accept the task, though I told
Lord Melbourne that I could not expect to have the same influence with
the House of Commons which Lord Althorp had possessed. In conversation
with Mr. Abercromby I said, more in joke than in earnest, that if I were
offered the command of the Channel Fleet, and thought it my duty to
accept, I should not refuse it.' It was unlike Sydney Smith to treat the
remark about taking command of the Channel Fleet seriously, when 'he
elaborated a charge' against Lord John on the Deans and Chapters
question; but even the witty Canon could lose his temper sometimes.
[Sidenote: WILLIAM IV. DEFENDER OF THE FAITH]
The King, however, had strong opinions on the subject of Lord John's
qualifications, and he expressed in emphatic terms his disapproval. The
nation trusted Lord John, and had come to definite and flattering
conclusions about him as a statesman, but at Windsor a different opinion
prevailed. The King, in fact, made no secret to Lord Melbourne, in the
famous interview at Brighton, of his conviction that Lord John Russell
had neither the ability nor the influence to qualify him for the task;
and he added that he would 'make a wretched figure' when opposed in the
Commons by men like Peel and Stanley. His Majesty further volunteered
the remark that he did not 'understand that young gentleman,' and could
not agree to the arrangement proposed. William, moreover, took occasion
to pose as a veritable, as well as titular, Defender of the Faith, for,
on the authority of Baron Stockmar, the King 'considered Lord John
Russell to have pledged himself to certain encroachments on the Church,
which his Majesty had made up his mind and expressed his determination
to resist.' As Russell was clearly quite out of the reckoning, Melbourne
suggested two other names. But the King had made up his mind on more
subjects than one, and next morning, Lord Melbourne found himself in
possession of a written paper, which informed him his Majesty had no
further occasion either for his services or for those of his colleagues.
William IV. acted within his constitutional rights, but such an exercise
of the royal prerogative was, to say the least, worthy of George III. in
his most uninspired mood. Althorp regarded the King's action as the
'greatest piece of folly ever committed,' and Lord John, in reply to the
friendly note which contained this emphatic verdict, summoned his
philosophy to his aid in the following characteristic rejoinder: 'I
suppose everything is for the best in this world; otherwise the only
good which I should see in this event would be that it saves me from
being sadly pommelled by Peel and Stanley, to say nothing of O'Connell.'
Wellington, who was hastily summoned by the King, suggested that Sir
Robert Peel should be entrusted with the formation of a new Government.
Sir Robert Peel was accordingly sent for in hot haste from Rome to form
a new Ministry. On his arrival in London in December 1834, he at once
set about the formation of a Cabinet. This is Jekyll's comment: 'Our
crisis has been entertaining, and Peel is expected to-day. I wish he
could have remained long enough at Rome to have learnt mosaic, of which
parti-coloured materials our Cabinets have been constructed for twenty
years, and for want of cement have fallen to pieces. The Whigs squall
out, "Let us depart, for the Reformers grow too impatient." The Tories
squall out, "Let us come in, and we will be very good boys, and become
Reformers ourselves." However, the country is safe by the Reform Bill,
for no Minister can remain in office now by corrupt Parliaments; he must
act with approbation of the country or lose his Cabinet in a couple of
months.' At the General Election which followed, Peel issued his
celebrated address to the electors of Tamworth, in which he declared
himself favourable to the reform of 'proved abuses,' and to the carrying
out of such measures 'gradually, dispassionately, and deliberately,' in
order that it might be lasting. Lord John was returned again for South
Devon; but on the reassembling of Parliament the Liberal majority had
dwindled from 314 to 107. It was during his election tour that he
delivered an address at Totnes, which Greville described as not merely
'a very masterly performance,' but 'one of the cleverest and most
appropriate speeches' he had ever read, and for which his friends
warmly complimented him. It was a powerful and humorous examination of
the Tories' professed anxiety for Reform, and of the prospects of any
Reform measures being carried out by their instrumentality.
[Sidenote: LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION]
Lord John now became leader of the Opposition, though the Duke of
Bedford dreaded the strain, and expostulated with his son on his
acceptance of so irksome and laborious a task. 'You will have to conduct
and keep in order a noisy and turbulent pack of hounds which, I think,
you will find it quite impossible to restrain.' The Duke of Bedford's
fears were not groundless, and Lord John afterwards confessed that, in
the whole period during which he had led the Liberal party in the House
of Commons, he never had so difficult a task. The forces under his
command consisted of a few stalwart Radicals, a number of Whigs of the
traditional and somewhat stationary type, and some sixty Irish members.
Nevertheless, he promptly assumed an aggressive attitude, and his first
victory as leader of the Opposition was won on the question of the
choice of a new Speaker, when Mr. Abercromby was placed in the chair in
preference to the Ministerial candidate. As the session went on, Lord
John's resources in attack grew more and more marked, but he was foiled
by the lack of cohesion amongst his followers. It became evident that,
unless all sections of the Opposition were united as one man, the
Government of Sir Robert Peel could not be overthrown. Alliance with the
Radicals and the Irish party, although hateful to the old-fashioned
Whigs, was in fact imperative. Lord John summoned a meeting of the
Opposition at Lord Lichfield's house; the support of the Radicals and
Irish was secured, and then the leader marshalled his forces for what he
hoped would prove a decisive victory. His expectations were not
disappointed, for early in April he brought forward a motion for the
appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to general
moral and religious purposes, and won with a majority of twenty-seven
votes (285 to 258). Sir Robert Peel forthwith resigned, and the Whigs
were avenged for their cavalier dismissal by the King.
On the day after the Prime Minister's resignation, Lord John Russell was
married--April 11, 1835, at St. George's, Hanover Square--to Adelaide,
Lady Ribblesdale, the widow of the second bearer of that title. The
respite from political strife was of short duration, for at the end of
forty-eight hours he was summoned from Woburn to take the seals of the
Home Office in the second Melbourne Administration. The members of the
new Cabinet presented themselves to their constituents for re-election,
and Lord John suffered defeat in Devonshire. A seat was, however, found
for him at Stroud, and in May he was back again in the House of Commons.
The first measure of importance introduced by him, on June 5, was the
Municipal Reform Act--a measure which embodied the results of the
Commission on the subject appointed by Lord Grey. The bill swept away a
host of antiquated and absurd privileges of corporate cities and towns,
abolished the authority of cliques of freemen, rectified a variety of
abuses, and entrusted municipal government to the hands of all
taxpayers. Lord John piloted the measure through the Commons, and fought
almost single-handed the representatives of vested rights. After a long
contest with the Opposition and the Lords, he had the satisfaction of
passing the bill, in a somewhat modified form, through its final stages
in September, though the Peers, as usual, opposed it as long as they
dared, and only yielded at last when Peel in the one House and
Wellington in the other recommended concession.
[Sidenote: A POPULAR OVATION]
The Irish Tithes Bill was subsequently introduced, and, though it now
included the clauses for the appropriation of certain revenues, it
passed the Commons by a majority of thirty-seven. The Lords, however,
struck out the appropriation clauses, and the Government in consequence
abandoned the measure. The Irish Municipal Bill shared a similar fate,
and Lord John's desire to see justice done in Ireland was brought for
the moment to naught. The labours of the session had been peculiarly
arduous, and in the autumn his health suffered from the prolonged
strain. His ability as a leader of the House of Commons, in spite of the
dismal predictions of William IV. and the admonitions of paternal
solicitude, was now recognised by men of all shades of opinion, though,
of course, he had to confront the criticism alike of candid friends and
equally outspoken foes. He recruited his energies in the West of
England, and, though he had been so recently defeated in Devonshire,
wherever he went the people, by way of amends, gave him an ovation.
Votes of thanks were accorded to him for his championship of civil and
religious liberty, and in November he was entertained at a banquet at
Bristol, and presented with a handsome testimonial, raised by the
sixpences of ardent Reformers.
Parliament, in the Speech from the Throne, when the session of 1836
began, was called upon to take into early consideration various measures
of Reform. The programme of the Ministry, like that of many subsequent
administrations, was not lacking in ambition. It was proposed to deal
with the antiquated and vexatious manner in which from time immemorial
the tithes of the English Church had been collected. The question of
Irish tithes was also once more to be brought forward for solution; the
municipal corporations of Ireland and the relief of its poor were to be
dealt with in the light of recent legislation for England in the same
direction. Improvements in the practical working of the administration
of justice, 'more especially in the Court of Chancery,' were
foreshadowed, and it was announced that the early attention of
Parliament would also be called to certain 'grievances which affect
those who dissent from the doctrines or discipline of the Established
Church.' Such a list of measures bore on its very face the unmistakeable
stamp of Lord John Russell's zeal for political redress and religious
toleration. Early in the session he brought forward two measures for the
relief of Nonconformists. One of them legalised marriages in the
presence of a registrar in Nonconformist places of worship, and the
other provided for a general civil registration of births, marriages,
and deaths. His original proposal was that marriage in church as well as
chapel should only take place after due notice had been given to the
registrar. The bishops refused to entertain such an idea, and the House
of Lords gave effect to their objections, with the result that the
registrar was bowed out of church, though not out of chapel, where
indeed he remains to this day. The Tithe Commutation Act and three other
measures--one for equalising the incomes of prelates, rearranging
ancient dioceses and creating new sees; another for the better
application of the revenues of the Church to its general purposes; and a
third to diminish pluralities--bore witness to his ardour for
ecclesiastical reform. The first became law in 1836, and the other two
respectively in 1838 and 1839. He lent his aid also to the movement for
the foundation on a broad and liberal basis of a new university in
London with power to confer degrees--a concession to Nonconformist
scholarship and liberal culture generally, which was the more
appreciated since Oxford and Cambridge still jealously excluded by their
religious tests the youth of the Free Churches.
The Tithe Commutation Act was passed in June; it provided for the
exchange of tithes into a rent-charge upon land payable in money, but
according to a sliding scale which varied with the average price of corn
during the seven preceding years. In the opinion of Lord Farnborough, to
no measure since the Reformation has the Church owed so much peace and
security. The Irish Municipal Bill was carried in the course of the
session through the Commons, but the Lords rendered the measure
impossible; and though the Irish Poor Law Bill was carried, a different
fate awaited Irish Tithes. This measure was introduced for the fifth
time, but in consequence of the King's death, on June 20, and the
dissolution of Parliament which followed, it had to be abandoned.
Between 1835 and 1837 Lord John, as Home Secretary, brought about many
changes for the better in the regulation of prisons, and especially in
the treatment of juvenile offenders. By his directions prisoners in
Newgate, from metropolitan counties, were transferred to the gaol of
each county. Following in the steps of Sir Samuel Romilly, he also
reduced the number of capital crimes, and, later on, brought about
various prison reforms, notably the establishment of a reformatory for
juvenile offenders.
[Sidenote: THE QUEEN'S ACCESSION]
The rejoicings over Queen Victoria's accession in the summer of 1837
were quickly followed by a General Election. The result of this appeal
to the country was that the Liberal majority in the House of Commons
was reduced to less than forty. Lord John was again returned for Stroud,
and on that occasion he delivered a speech in which he cleverly
contrasted the legislative achievements of the Tories with those of the
Whigs. He made a chivalrous allusion to the 'illustrious Princess who
has ascended the Throne with purest intentions and the justest desires.'
One passage from his speech merits quotation: 'We have had glorious
female reigns. Those of Elizabeth and Anne led us to great victories.
Let us now hope that we are going to have a female reign illustrious in
its deeds of peace--an Elizabeth without her tyranny, an Anne without
her weakness.... I trust that we may succeed in making the reign of
Victoria celebrated among the nations of the earth and to all posterity,
and that England may not forget her precedence of teaching the nations
how to live.'
[Sidenote: LORD MELBOURNE AND THE COURT]
Lord Melbourne had never been a favourite with William, but from the
first he stood high in the regard of the young Queen. Her Majesty was
but eighteen when she ascended the throne upon which her reign has shed
so great a lustre; she had been brought up in comparative seclusion, and
her knowledge of public affairs was, of necessity, small. Lord Melbourne
at that time was approaching sixty, and the respect which her Majesty
gave to his years was heightened by the quick recognition of the fact
that the Prime Minister was one of the most experienced statesmen which
the country at that moment possessed. He was also a man of ready wit,
and endowed with the charm of fine manners, and under his easy
nonchalance there lurked more earnest and patriotic conviction than he
ever cared to admit. 'I am sorry to hurt any man's feelings,' said
Sydney Smith, 'and to brush aside the magnificent fabric of levity and
gaiety he has reared; but I accuse our Minister of honesty and
diligence.' Ridiculous rumours filled the air during the earliest years
of her Majesty's reign concerning the supposed undue influence which
Lord Melbourne exerted at Court. The more advanced Radicals complained
that he sought to render himself indispensable to the sovereign, and
that his plan was to surround her with his friends, relations, and
creatures, and so to obtain a prolonged tenure of power. The Tories also
grumbled, and made no secret of the same ungenerous suspicions. They
knew neither her Majesty nor Lord Melbourne who thus spoke. At the same
time, it must be admitted that Lord Melbourne was becoming more and more
out of touch with popular aspirations, and the political and social
questions which were rapidly coming to the front were treated by him in
a somewhat cavalier manner.
Russell had his own misgivings, and was by no means inclined to lay too
much stress on the opinions of philosophical Radicals of the type of
Grote. At the same time, he urged upon Melbourne the desirability of
meeting the Radicals as far as possible, and he laid stress on the fact
that they, at least, were not seeking for grounds of difference with the
Premier. 'There are two things which I think would be more acceptable
than any others to this body--the one to make the ballot an open
question, the other to remove Tories from the political command of the
army.' Lord Melbourne, however, believed that the ballot would create
many evils and cure none. Lord John yielded to his chief, but in doing
so brought upon himself a good deal of angry criticism, which was
intensified by an unadvised declaration in the House of Commons. In his
speech on the Address he referred to the question of Reform, and
declared that it was quite impossible for him to take part in further
measures of Reform. The people of England might revise the Act of 1832,
or agitate for a new one; but as for himself, he refused to be
associated with any such movement. A storm of expostulation and angry
protest broke out; but the advanced Reformers failed to move Lord John
from the position which he had taken. So they concentrated their
hostility in a harmless nickname, and Lord John for some time forward
was called in Radical circles and certain journalistic publications,
'Finality Jack.' This honest but superfluous and embarrassing
deliverance brought him taunts and reproaches, as well as a temporary
loss of popularity. It was always characteristic of Lord John to speak
his mind, and he sometimes did it not wisely but too well. Grote wrote
in February 1838: 'The degeneracy of the Liberal party, and their
passive acquiescence in everything, good or bad, which emanates from the
present Ministry, puts the accomplishment of any political good out of
the question; and it is not worth while to undergo the fatigue of a
nightly attendance in Parliament for the simple purpose of sustaining
Whig Conservatism against Tory Conservatism. I now look back wistfully
to my unfinished Greek history.' Yet Lord Brougham, in the year of the
Queen's accession, declared that Russell was the 'stoutest Reformer of
them all.'
[Sidenote: LORD DURHAM AND CANADA]
The rebellion in Canada was the first great incident in the new reign,
and the Melbourne Cabinet met the crisis by proposals--which were moved
by Lord John in the Commons, and adopted--for suspending the Canadian
Constitution for the space of four years. The Earl of Durham, at the
beginning of 1838, was appointed Governor-General with extraordinary
powers, and he reluctantly accepted the difficult post, trusting, as he
himself said, to the confidence and support of the Government, and to
the forbearance of those who differed from his political views. No one
doubts that Durham acted to the best of his judgment, though everyone
admits that he exceeded at least the letter of his authority; and no one
can challenge, in the light of the subsequent history of Canada, the
greatness and far-reaching nature of his services, both to the Crown and
to the Dominion. Relying on the forbearance and support, in the faith of
which he had accepted his difficult commission, the Governor-General
took a high hand with the rebels; but his ordinances were disallowed,
and he was practically discredited and openly deserted by the
Government. When he was on the point of returning home, a broken-hearted
man, in failing health, it was Lord John Russell who at length stood up
in Durham's defence. Speaking on the Durham Indemnity Bill, Lord John
said: 'I ask you to pass this Bill of Indemnity, telling you that I
shall be prepared when the time comes, not indeed to say that the terms
or words of the ordinances passed by the Earl of Durham are altogether
to be justified, but that, looking at his conduct as a whole, I shall be
ready to take part with him. I shall be ready to bear my share of any
responsibility which is to be incurred in these difficult
circumstances.' The generous nature of this declaration was everywhere
recognised, and by none more heartily than Lord Durham. 'I do not
conceal from you that my feelings have been deeply wounded by the
conduct of the Ministry. From you, however, and you alone of them all,
have I received any cordial support personally; and I feel, as I have
told you in a former letter, very grateful to you.'
Meanwhile Lord John Russell had been called upon to oppose Mr. Grote's
motion in favour of the ballot. Although the motion was lost by 315 to
198 votes, the result was peculiarly galling to Lord John, for amongst
the majority were those members who were usually opposed to the
Government, whilst the minority was made up of Lord Melbourne's
followers. But the crisis threatening the Ministry passed away when a
motion of want of confidence in Lord Glenelg, the head of the Colonial
Office, was defeated by twenty-nine votes. The Irish legislation of the
Government as represented by the Tithe Bill did not prosper, and it
became evident that, in order to pass the measure, the Appropriation
Clause must be abandoned. Although Lord John Russell emphatically
declared in 1835 that no Tithe Bill could be effective which did not
include an Appropriation Clause, he gave way to the claims of political
expediency, and further alienated the Radicals by allowing a measure
which had been robbed of its potency to pass through Parliament. Lord
Melbourne's Government accomplished during the session something in the
direction of Irish Reform by the passage of the Poor Law, but it failed
to carry the Municipal Bill, which in many respects was the most
important of the three.
The autumn, which witnessed on both sides of the Atlantic the excitement
over Lord Durham's mission to Canada, was darkened in the home of Lord
John by the death at Brighton, on November 1, of his wife. His first
impulse was to place the resignation of his office and of leadership in
the Commons in the hands of his chief. Urgent appeals from all quarters
were made to him to remain at his post, and, though his own health was
precarious, cheered by the sympathy of his colleagues and of the
country, he resumed his work after a few weeks of quiet at Cassiobury.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Russell's _Life of Fox_, vol. i. p. 242.