The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland gave a great display of their wealth in Dublin, and once more the official party revelled in feastings, balls, and flamboyant levées and drawing-rooms. Some serious work was attempted, and in April, 1830, a proclamation was issued suppressing the Catholic Association. Agitation feeds on agitation, and O'Connell's league had replaced Emancipation by Repeal. He was demanding the severance of the Union between the two countries, and Northumberland determined on a vigorous campaign against the agitator. The Tithe War—arising out of the refusal of the Catholic peasantry to pay tribute to the ministers of an alien Church—had begun, and fierce encounters between the military and the country people were everyday occurrences. Northumberland had a large army at his disposal, and the Cabinet advised him to make full use of it, but realizing the temper of the country better than his superiors, he declared that O'Connell's agitation for Repeal could be rendered abortive by reason, and not by force. Despite the friction with his official chiefs in London, Northumberland would have remained in Dublin had not the Tory ministry been replaced by Lord Grey's administration. The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland—the latter best known as one of the late Queen Victoria's governesses—left the country with the knowledge that they had been as successful as any viceregal pair before them. Sir Robert Peel described him as the very best governor of Ireland, and Wellington, never an easy man to please, growled out some compliments when he met the duke at a dinner-party. Lord Anglesey's second viceroyalty began in December, 1830, and ended in September, 1833. He had been popular during his brief reign of 1828-29, but he discovered speedily that patriots are susceptible, and the viceroy who earned popularity as an emancipationist in 1828 was disliked and distrusted by the O'Connellites, because he would not follow their lead and become equally as enthusiastic for Repeal. Daniel O'Connell derided the viceroy in almost every speech made, and no epithet was too strong to be applied to Lord Anglesey. O'Connell publicly prayed for his removal, and the viceroy, out of sympathy with all parties, lingered on at Dublin Castle, worried by the popularity of the Repealer, and disturbed by the havoc the Tithe War was playing with the progress of the country.
The famous Doon auction
The history of the Tithe War has been told many times, and there is no room for it here, but it possessed so much comedy and tragedy that some of its incidents may be recalled. When the peasantry tried passive resistance, their activities were aroused by the arrival of soldiers to take their goods and sell them by public auction. In one battle twelve peasants were killed and twenty wounded; in another there were heavy casualties on both sides; and there were other affrays with equally deadly results. A touch of humour was provided by the inhabitants of Doon, a Limerick town which, in the early thirties of the last century, contained a population of about 5,000 Roman Catholics and a single Protestant. In due course, the Protestant clergyman demanded tithes from the priest, which the latter promptly refused to pay. With the aid of the law, the priest's cow was seized, and elaborate preparations made for its sale by public auction. The authorities at Dublin Castle were consulted, and a long correspondence dealing with the cow ensued; there was much advising and consultation; the viceroy discussed it in secret and laughed at it during dinner; the Commander-in-Chief of the forces was asked for his help, and he signed an order for the attendance of a small army at the forthcoming auction. Meanwhile the cow, unmindful of its prominence and glory, browsed on contentedly until the time came when it was led into the field by its crown keeper and escorted by a force of police. On the field of auction, besides the police were a troop of the 12th Lancers, five companies of the 92nd Highlanders, and two pieces of artillery. The auctioneer stood in the midst of an arsenal surrounded by the army. Bids for the historic cow were invited; threats and jokes were all he got from the peasantry, and the proceedings finally left the Government in possession of the cow, no one having the courage to buy it. This auction was one of many. Cows and pigs, escorted by several hundred soldiers, became part of the pageantry of the country; officers and men were recalled from leave of absence to take their part in tending cattle captured from rebellious villagers. No Government could maintain its dignity, and ridicule nullified the dearly bought victories in the field. The net result was that the Government collected £12,000 at a cost of £27,000 and hundreds of lives, and £48,000 still due for tithes.
Lord Anglesey saw nothing of the Tithe War, but from Dublin Castle he superintended the operations against the peasantry. The Government regarded the objection to tithe-paying as one of O'Connell's devices for rousing the masses against England, and although the ministry was compelled to abolish the tithes, the victory of the peasants was more apparent than real, because the Tithe Commutation Act of 1838 placed the onus of collecting the dues on the landlord, who, of course, added the amount to the rent he levied on his tenants' holdings.
Between July, 1834, and April, 1835, there were three ministries, two Melbourne administrations being interrupted by Sir Robert Peel's first and brief government. Lord Wellesley's second viceroyalty lasted a few months—from September, 1833, to April, 1834—and although in 1835 he intimated to Lord Melbourne that he would not be averse to a third term, the premier appointed Lord Mulgrave, and Wellesley had to be content with the gilded post of Lord Chamberlain. The Marquis Wellesley lived until 1842.
The viceroyalty of the Earl of Haddington was as colourless as it was brief. He had been in Parliament some years before he was given a peerage, and succeeding to the earldom shortly afterwards, passed into an obscurity from which he never emerged, even when Peel, on December 29, 1834, made him Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. That ministry resigned in the April following, and Lord Melbourne formed his second Cabinet, sending Lord Mulgrave to Ireland.
The Irish party in Parliament
The return to power of Lord Melbourne marked a new epoch in the history of the British Parliament. For the first time English statesmen realized that the Irish vote could be capable of controlling the destinies of an English party. Hitherto the Irish members had been regarded as of no account; ever since the Union one or other of the great parties had been able to act independently of the Irish members, but the kaleidoscopic ministerial changes that had taken place since the termination of Lord Liverpool's record premiership had gradually given the Irish members the balance of power between the two parties. In eight years seven distinct Cabinets were formed, and when the seventh, Lord Melbourne's, received their seals from William IV., they knew as well as O'Connell himself that their existence depended upon the Irish vote.
It was only natural that O'Connell and his followers were delighted. They foresaw the time when England would tire of the domination of the Irish minority in Parliament, and would gladly send them back to College Green, and so certain were they of this that O'Connell agreed to suspend his demand for the repeal of the Union, and give Melbourne and his colleagues an opportunity of doing something great for Ireland. It was a strong Government and rich in statesmen. Lord John Russell was Home Secretary, and Palmerston was Foreign Secretary. The Cabinet had many long and anxious consultations on Irish affairs, and the ministers did their best to keep their bargain with O'Connell. The House of Lords, however, blocked the way, and the Melbourne Government fell in the autumn of 1841.