Peel and the "Conservative" party.
While fairly successful alike in its foreign policy and its English legislation, the Grey cabinet was never so strong as might have been expected from its triumphant commencement of office. The Tory party, which had seemed shattered for ever by the Reform Bill, and had remained for some years in a broken and helpless condition, began gradually to reorganize itself under the wise and cautious leadership of Sir Robert Peel. Though Palmerston Melbourne, and the other Canningites who had quitted it in 1828, did not return to its ranks, and remained moderate Whigs, yet there were many others who gradually rallied themselves to the old "Church and State" party. The new voters whom the Reform Bill had created did not prove so universally devoted to Radical principles as had been expected. There was always much attachment to the old ideals in the middle classes. When Peel appeared as leader, in place of narrow old Tories of the type of Castlereagh and Addington, he was gradually enabled to collect a large body of followers, and to form an opposition commanding a respectable number of votes. About this time he wisely dropped the name of Tory, and called himself and his followers "Conservatives," in order to get rid of the unfortunate associations of the older party appellation.
The Tithe War.—Lord Grey resigns.
But the time was still far off when the Conservatives were to obtain a preponderance in the House of Commons. Lord Grey resigned in 1834, but only to give place to another Whig prime minister, who continued the policy and work of his predecessor with the aid of most of his cabinet. The change of premiers was due to a division among the Whigs caused by Irish affairs. The grant of Catholic Emancipation in 1829 had completely failed to quiet Ireland. It only caused the Irish to substitute new demands for the old ones. O'Connell, flushed with his victory on the Emancipation question, had started two new agitations, combined with each other much as Home Rule and the Land Question are combined by modern Irish politicians. The first of them was the demand for "Repeal," that is, the abolition of the Union of 1800, and the establishment of a local Parliament in Dublin—the cry that is called Home Rule in our own day. The second was the Tithe War, a crusade against the payment by the Romanist peasantry of tithes for the support of the Established Church of Ireland, a body which they naturally detested. The Tithe War lasted for six or seven years, and was accompanied by much rioting and outrage; the peasantry withheld the tithe, and the Protestant clergy were in many cases absolutely ruined and reduced to starvation by being deprived of their sustenance. A coercion bill for the suppression of riots and violence was passed in 1833, and had some effect in restoring order.
But the ministry was divided on the question of the justice of continuing to extract money from the Romanist peasantry to support an alien Church. The premier proposed that the government should take over the collection of the tithe, but use it for such purposes, secular or otherwise, as might be deemed fit. But many of his colleagues objected to diverting Church money from its original uses, and the cabinet fell to pieces after a stormy scene in the House over a renewal of the Coercion Act. Grey retired, and the king sent for Sir Robert Peel, who at once dissolved Parliament, but the Whigs had a majority in the new House, and Peel fell, after holding office for four months only. Grey's colleague, Lord Melbourne, took over the conduct of affairs and rearranged the cabinet, excluding only the late premier, and his clever but eccentric Chancellor, Lord Brougham.
The Melbourne ministry.—
This ministry struggled on for six years, confronted always by the strong Conservative following and the master mind of Peel, and dependent on the uncertain support of O'Connell and his "Tail." Its chief achievement was the final passing of the Irish Tithe Act, which relieved the peasantry of the duty of paying that contribution to the Established Church, and transferred it to their landlords, so that the tithe was for the future a charge on rent. O'Connell accepted this compromise, and the Tithe War ended, but the Repeal agitation went on vigorously, and monster meetings all over Ireland were continually demanding Home Rule. O'Connell had the priests on his side to a man, and, using them as his instruments, could dictate orders to the countryside, and return all the members for the Catholic districts of Ireland. To his great credit, he kept the agitation clear of outrages, as he had already done in the case of Emancipation ten years before. Without having recourse to any such expedients, he was able to keep the government in continual hot water, and more than once to wrest concessions of importance from it.
Death of William IV.
The Melbourne cabinet was still wandering on its feeble way when on June 20, 1837, the worthy old king, William IV., died. His decease had no great effect on the politics of the realm, for when the election for a new Parliament took place—as was necessary on the sovereign's death—the ministry was found to have in the new House a small majority, of much the same numbers as that which they had enjoyed in the old.
Accession of Queen Victoria.—Hanover separated from England.