DIVISIONS IN THE CABINET.
In opposing the repeal of the union, ministers carried along with them the sense and feeling of the people; that was a question on which no man differed from them except O’Connell and his followers. Questions, however, connected with the Irish church stood in a different light.
The agitators supported the repeal as a measure tending not more to perpetuate their own domination, than to secure the ruin of the Protestant establishment. Many, also, who resisted repeal, still demanded changes and curtailments in that establishment, they considering it the principal cause of all the turbulence and misery afflicting Ireland. There were others again who disliked it, not because it was a Protestant, but because it was a religious establishment; and such men inveighed against what they termed an unhallowed connection between church and state, and the practical injustice of compelling persons of one belief to support the institutions of a different creed. This party was ready to attack, not only the revenues, but the very existence of the Irish church, as the first step towards the destruction of that of England. Union in the cabinet, coupled with a determination not to be driven further than themselves were inclined to go, might have rendered ministers sufficiently strong to defy such destructive reformers. Unfortunately, however, on this question, the cabinet itself was divided. One portion of the ministers, numerically the strongest, seemed inclined to admit the principle of appropriation, which they had repudiated in the bill of last session, by withdrawing the clause in which it was contained. On the other hand, the minority, however willing to remove striking and useless inequalities in the distribution of the ecclesiastical revenue, and to adopt measures which would prevent irritating collisions in its collection, resisted on principle any transfer of it to other purposes; and they especially refused to acquiesce in proposals for making the Protestant establishment depend on the comparative strength or weakness of the Romish church. This discordance of opinion would have prevented ministers from starting the subject; but it was forced on them by a numerous party, which made up in fury and zeal what was lacking in knowledge and discretion. On the 27th of May, Mr. Ward, one of the members for St. Albans, moved a resolution for reducing the temporalities of the Irish church, as exceeding the spiritual wants of the Protestant establishment. This motion gave rise to a division in the cabinet. In supporting his proposition, Mr. Ward contended that vital and extensive changes in the church of Ireland had now become unavoidable on the grounds of mere expediency. The tithe system, he said, was the source of all the disorganisation that prevailed in Ireland. Resistance to it was almost universal, comprehending both Catholics and Protestants. Commutation, he argued, would do no good; a new appropriation of church property alone could produce even a momentary calm. Mr. Ward’s motion was seconded by Mr. Grote, who said that the means of relief must be suggested from a higher quarter when once the principle was recognised. Lord Althorp here arose to request the house to adjourn, in consequence of circumstances which had come to his knowledge since he had entered the house. He could not at present, he said, state the nature of these circumstances; but the house would doubtless believe that he would not make such a proposition without being convinced of its propriety. The house adjourned, according to Lord Althorp’s request; and it appeared that the circumstances to which he had alluded, and which had been communicated to him while Mr. Ward was speaking, was the resignation of those ministers who would not consent to the principle which his motion involved. Those who resigned were Mr. Stanley, colonial secretary; Sir James Graham, first lord of the admiralty; the Duke of Richmond, postmaster-general; and the Earl of Ripon, lord privy-seal. These vacant offices were soon filled up: the Marquis of Conyngham became postmaster-general; the Earl of Carlisle accepted the privy-seal; Lord Auckland became the first lord of the admiralty; and the colonial office was filled up by Mr. Spring Rice. Lord Althorp stated afterwards that he was not aware of the necessity of these changes till after he had entered the house on the 27th; and the adjournment seems to have arisen from the fear that the retirement of these ministers would bring along with it the resignation of the whole. An address was got up and presented to Earl Grey by a great number of the ministerial adherents in the commons, entreating his lordship to retain his place; but though, in reply he announced his intention of making every personal sacrifice that might be required of him in support of the principles of the administration, he admitted that much embarrassment, as well as mischief, was produced by the reckless desire of innovation. The embarrassment of ministers was rendered still greater by the king himself, who, in reply to an address presented to him by the Irish bishops on the 28th of May, on behalf of the Irish church, remarked with peculiar emphasis:—“I now remember you have a right to require of me to be resolute in defence of the church. I have been, by the circumstances of my life and by conviction, led to support toleration to the utmost extent of which it is justly capable; but toleration must not be suffered to go into licentiousness: it has its bounds, which it is my duty, and which I am resolved to maintain. I am, from the deepest conviction, attached to the pure Protestant faith, which this church, of which I am the temporal head, is the human means of diffusing and preserving in this land. I cannot forget what was the course of events that placed my family on the throne which I now fill. These events were consummated in a revolution, which was rendered necessary, and which was effected, not, as has sometimes been most erroneously stated, merely for the sake of the temporal liberties of the people, but for the preservation of their religion. It was for the defence of the religion of the country that the settlement of the crown was made which has placed me in the situation which I now fill; and that religion, and the church of England and Ireland, the prelates of which are now before me, it is my fixed purpose, determination, and resolution to maintain. The present bishops, I am quite satisfied, have never been excelled at any period of the history of our church by any of their predecessors in learning, piety, or zeal in the discharge of their high duties. If there are any of the inferior arrangements in the discipline of the church—which, however, I greatly doubt—that require amendment, I have no distrust of the readiness and ability of the prelates now before me to correct such things; and to you, I trust, they will be left to correct, with your authority unimpaired and unshackled.”