WILLIAM IV. 1834
In the preceding session it had been found necessary to pass what was termed the coercion bill—a bill intended to put down that insurrectionary violence and combination which filled Ireland with crime and confusion. This act was to expire in August; and ministers, acting upon information received from various parts of Ireland, had determined to propose its renewal, omitting those parts that related to the trial of offenders, in certain cases, by courts-martial. There were, however, other provisions in the bill which the agitators of Ireland viewed with still greater dislike, they interfering with their own influence, by preventing those meetings which enabled them to work on the ignorance and passions of the misguided multitude. To escape from these restrictions was to Mr. O’Connell and his followers an object of greater importance than that the multitude whom they misled should be tried only by the regular tribunals of the country—that the peasant should have the benefit of the jury, or of an investigation by the civil magistrate. The lord-lieutenant of Ireland had recommended that the whole act should be renewed, with the exception of the clause relative to courts-martial; but on the 23rd of June, Earl Grey received a communication from him, stating that the provision against public meetings might also be omitted. What influence had been used with the Marquis Wellesley subsequently became the subject of much discussion. It appeared that certain members of the cabinet had been corresponding with him without the knowledge of Earl Grey, and that the object of their correspondence had been, not to insure more tranquillity in Ireland, but to smooth the way of ministers by making concessions to O’Connell and his adherents. On discovering this, Earl Grey, who dissented from such views, immediately wrote to the lord-lieutenant to reconsider the subject, taking nothing into account but what was fitting for Ireland. Lord Wellesley, however, still adhered to his recommendation, more especially if, by means of such omission, an extension of the term for the act could be obtained. The subject was now brought before the cabinet, and its members were found to be divided in opinion thereon. The minority, consisting of Lord Althorp, and Messrs. Grant, Rice, Ellice, and Abercromby, objected to a renewal of the clauses in question, though they acquiesced in the determination of the majority, that the bill should be proposed in the form desired by the premier. On the second reading of the bill, Lord Durham objected to the clauses regarding public meetings, when Earl Grey declared his dissent from him to be absolute; if he could not have proposed the bill with these clauses, he would not have proposed it at all. Without them, he said, the bill would be ineffectual, impolitic, and cruel: it would punish the miserable victims of delusion, and let those escape who supplied to Ireland the fuel of agitation and disturbance. In these sentiments the lord-chancellor coincided; the clauses, he said, were as necessary as any others. Attention must be paid to the cause of excitement, as well as to the parties excited; the clauses regarding public meetings no doubt were a suspension of rights; but so were all the other clauses of the bill, to which no objection had been raised. The second reading of the bill was carried without any serious opposition, and the committee was fixed for the 7th of July; but in the meantime disclosures were made in the commons, which stopped the progress of the bill in its present shape, and which led to the resignation of Earl Grey.
RESIGNATION OF EARL GREY, ETC.
Instead of meeting O’Connell with bold defiance, Mr. Littleton, the Irish secretary, had committed the fatal error of secretly negotiating with him, soothing him, and even entrusting him with the views and determinations of the cabinet, giving him assurances, or encouraging expectations, for which he had no authority. He seems to have expected some communication from the lord-lieutenant regarding the omission of the clauses; and he resolved, before the ministers or the cabinet had made any decision known to him, to communicate to O’Connell, under the seal of secrecy and confidence, the sentiments of the Irish government, and to communicate it as ensuring a similar determination on the part of government. He spoke of the propriety of acting thus to Lord Althorp, who said that he saw no harm in it; but, at the same time, entreated him to use extreme caution in his communication, and by no means to commit himself in what he said. Under these circumstances Mr. Littleton sent for Mr. O’Connell on the 20th of June, and made the desired communication, with an assurance that only a short measure for repressing agrarian disturbances would be proposed: and, also, that if the coercion bill was again thought necessary, he would not introduce it. In consequence of this interview, Mr. O’Connell promised his assistance in putting down disturbances; and he actually withdrew the repeal candidate whom he had started for the county of Wexford. To the dismay of Mr. Littleton, however, the premier and majority of the cabinet determined to retain the clause respecting public meetings, and he was compelled to belie his confidential communication. He had told Mr. O’Connell that he would not be the person to introduce the bill in that shape: and yet he did not resign when it was determined that the bill should be introduced in that shape alone. At the same time he communicated to Mr. O’Connell that his hopes could not be realised; but begged him to take no public notice of this until he should have seen Earl Grey’s speech introducing the bill. Mr. O’Connell replied to him, that if he did not resign, he would be guilty of deception; and Mr. Littleton answered, “Say nothing of that to-day,” or, “Wait till to-morrow.” But with regard to the fact, whether such an answer was or was not given, both O’Connell and Mr. Littleton averred that what the other stated was not consistent with truth. Be this as it may, O’Connell thought he was not bound to secrecy; and on the 3rd of July, two days after the bill had been introduced in the lords, he asked Mr. Littleton whether it was true that the renewal of the coercion bill in its present shape had been advised and called for by the Irish government? Mr. Littleton answered that this was an unusual inquiry to make respecting a bill not before the house; but he would say that the introduction of the bill had the entire sanction of the Irish government. Mr. O’Connell again put his question, as to whether the bill had been called for by the Irish government? and not obtaining a more direct answer, he said, “I now ask the Irish secretary if it his intention to bring the bill forward in this house?” Mr. Littleton replied, “It will be for the government to decide as to its introduction here when the proper time arrives; but, whoever may bring in the bill, I shall vote for it.” Mr. O’Connell then said, “Then I have been exceedingly deceived by him;” and the Irish secretary was driven to the necessity of stating the whole matter, and an angry discussion ensued. Two days afterwards Mr. Littleton tendered his resignation; but it was refused, his colleagues, as Lord Althorp stated in the house, valuing his services too highly to dispense with them on such grounds. The coercion bill passed through committee in the lords on the 7th of July, and on the same evening, in the house of commons, Lord Althorp, for the purpose of announcing its approach, presented papers relative to the state of Ireland, which he moved should be printed. This led to a discussion on the sentiments of the cabinet, and the change of opinion manifested by the Marquis Wellesley. Mr. O’Connell moved an amendment, that the papers should be referred to a select committee; and this being rejected by a large majority, he gave notice for the production of so much of the lord-lieutenant’s correspondence as would explain the reason why he opposed a renewal of the coercion act on or about the 20th of June. Hitherto there had been no symptoms of change in the ministry, however unfortunate might be the figure which they had been compelled to make. They had even refused to accept the resignation of Mr. Littleton, whose indiscreet negotiations had been the source of all their embarrassments. Lord Althorp, however, seems now to have come to the conclusion that ministers would not be able to carry the bill through in its original form, for, on the very night of this discussion, he sent in his resignation, and persisted in retiring from office. The resignation of the chancellor of the exchequer involved that of Earl Grey. The prime minister, convinced that it was impossible for him to proceed when deprived of Lord Althorp’s assistance, gave in his own resignation, which his majesty accepted. By the retirement of the head of the cabinet, the cabinet itself was dissolved; but no other resignation followed. The members of the old cabinet, indeed, resolved to remain together, and selected a new head; and Lord Melbourne, the home-secretary, was elevated to this post, and kissed hands on the 16th of July as first lord of the treasury. Lord Melbourne’s first act was to inform the house that ministers did not intend to proceed with the coercion bill now before it, but that another bill, omitting certain clauses contained in the former, would immediately be brought into the house of commons. This announcement produced a vehement discussion, in which the conduct of government and some of its individual members was assailed by the Dukes of Wellington and Buckingham, and several other peers, who maintained, that since the Revolution, no instance had occurred of such inconsistency and tergiversation. A modified coercion bill, however, was introduced on the 18th of July; and having been rapidly carried through the commons, passed the lords on the 29th, under a strong protest, signed by the Dukes of Cumberland and Wellington, with twenty-one other peers. This modified bill re-enacted only those parts of the former which referred to the proclamation of districts. The lord-lieutenant was to have power to proclaim any district which he thought necessary, and in these districts any meeting, not convened by the high sheriff of the county, was to be held illegal. No person was to leave his house between sunset and sunrise, except on lawful business; and constables were to have power to make people show themselves at any hour of the night when they might call at their houses. The operations of the bill were to cease on the 1st of August, 1835.
REJECTION OF THE IRISH TITHE QUESTION BY THE PEERS.
Ministers having thus provided for the tranquillity of Ireland, by what they considered enactments of sufficient energy and severity, now returned to their tithe bill, which, according to them, was to be the great recompense of the temporary submission to a strained power of the law. Accordingly, on the 29th of July, the order of the day was read for the house resolving itself into a committee on the tithe bill. Mr. O’Connell moved as an amendment that the house should resolve itself into a committee that day six months. He did so, he said, on the ground that it was preposterous to go into a committee on a bill containing one hundred and twenty-two clauses at that period of the session, on the ground of the demerits of the bill itself, and on the ground that it would be time enough to legislate after the report of the commission which had been issued should have been received, a regular plan arranged and submitted, with all its details, and all necessary information, to a select committee composed of men of all parties. This amendment, however, obtained only fourteen votes in its favour, though others were carried in committee, which went to alter the operation and consequences of the bill. Thus Mr. O’Connell moved an amendment, the object of which was to relieve the tithe-payer immediately to the extent of forty per cent.; and in consequence of the accommodating language and coy resistance of ministers, it was carried by a majority of eighty-two to thirty-three. Additional concessions were also made in the committee; and even Mr. Shiel remarked that Ireland ought to be grateful. Such, indeed, was the departure from the original principles and arrangements of the bill that one hundred and eleven out of one hundred and seventy-two clauses were expunged. Thus altered, the bill was read a third time, and passed on the 5th of August.
On the second reading of the bill in the lords, the peers were given to understand by Lord Melbourne that, if it was lost, government would propose no other grant to relieve the Irish clergy. He admitted, he said, that there might be reason for viewing with jealousy and distrust the quarter whence certain alterations made in the bill, subsequently to this introduction, proceeded; but, at the same time he did not think the arrangement bad for the church. The tithe for the future was to be received by the crown, and paid by the landlord, who, in return for the burden thus imposed on him, was to have a deduction of two-fifths or forty per cent, of the original composition. The incomes of the clergy, however, were not to bear the whole deduction, which was only to be twenty-two and a half per cent, on them; that is, twenty per cent, for increased security, and two and a half per cent, for the expenses of collection. The incumbents would, in fact, receive £79 10s. for every £100 without trouble, without the risk of bad debts, and without the odium which had hitherto attended the collection of tithe property. Another consequence was that the clergy would be relieved from the payment of sums already advanced to them from the treasury, as that charge would be laid on the landlord. In conclusion, he said that he thought the revision of existing compositions, made under the acts of 1823 and ‘32, was also a proper enactment. The bill underwent a complete discussion—the Conservatives seeing no security for the rights and interests of the Irish clergy in its provisions as now altered; while their opponents thought that it would be much more advantageous to the clerical body to obtain the sum proposed without risk, than to recover a smaller—if they recovered any at all—through scenes of blood and slaughter. The Earl of Ripon and the Duke of Richmond pursued a middle course—they wished the bill to go into committee in order to restore it to its original state; if unsuccessful there, they would vote against the third reading. The lords, however, were determined to reject it forthwith; and on a division the bill was thrown out by a majority of one hundred and eighty-nine against one hundred and twenty-two. By the rejection of the bill, the Irish clergy was thrown on the charity of the British public, who liberally responded to their demand: a large subscription was made to relieve their distresses.