318

THE BRUNSWICK CLUBS.

The sister country has, unfortunately, always exhibited as a matter of fact that division into two nations which Lord Beaconsfield, in one of his earlier novels, predicates of England. But there, the division is not between rich and poor; it is between Catholic and Protestant. The chasm which separates them—a wide gulf of history, thought, feeling, belief, and aspiration-has never been bridged over; but it was deeper and broader in the last years of George the 4th than it has been or is under Victoria. It plainly marked out Irish society into two antagonistic sections. As a counterpoise to the Catholic Association, the Orangemen formed themselves into Brunswick Clubs, which imitated the Catholic organisation, and collected a Protestant "rent." "The Orangemen," writes Lord Anglesey, "or, I suppose I am now to call them the Brunswickers, are rivalling the Association both in violence and rent." In violence, indeed, they exceeded their rivals; and the Ministry began to fear that they would soon have on their hands a civil war, and a civil war in which the Irish constabulary and the Irish soldiers might not be on the side of the constituted authorities.*

Communications respecting the state of Ireland, and the desirability of settling the Catholic question, passed between Peel and the Duke of Wellington on the 9th and the 11th of August, and were submitted to Lord

* Lord Anglesey writes on the 25th of July;-"I think it important that the depôts of Irish recruits should be gradually removed, under the appearance of being required to join their regiments, and that whatever regiments sent here should be those of Scotland, or at all events of men not recruited in the south of Ireland."- Memoirs by Sir Robert Peel,' i.

127.

PEEL'S DECISION.

319

Lyndhurst. Peel distinctly stated his opinion that the time had come when concession could no longer be delayed, and he offered to resign his post, in the belief that by so doing he would facilitate the work of adjustment. He did not desire to shrink from the unpopularity that would inevitably attend a declaration of his change of opinion. "Be the sacrifices, private and public, what they may," he wrote, "I will cordially co-operate with you in the settlement of this question, and cordially support your Government." He forsesaw all the pen

alties to which the course he had resolved to take would expose him; the rage of party, his rejection by the University of Oxford, the alienation of private friends, the interruption of family affections, and, what he valued infinitely less, the loss of office and of royal favour. But the conviction had been forced upon his mind that Ireland could be pacified only by granting to the Catholics the relief they demanded; and he wisely set honesty above consistency, an honest care for the national interests above a bigoted adherence to individual opinion. He could not but be moved by the emphatic language of Lord Anglesey, who urged the necessity of immediate legislation, and, while making himself answerable for the tranquillity of Ireland during the winter, plainly stated that if, when Parliament met, nothing was done to satisfy the Catholics, there would be rebellion.* Early in January, 1829, the Duke and Mr. Peel

* Mr. Grenville, writing to the Duke of Buckingham (September the 9th, 1828), says :— "The measure of Catholic emancipation is fast approaching, and that irresistibly. I know from the most unquestionable authority that very many of the Orange Protestants in Ireland are now

320

A STEP IN ADVANCE.

finally resolved on facing the difficulty before them. As a preliminary step, the Duke opened communications with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishops of London and Durham, in the hope of obtaining their co-operation, but was met with a very decisive refusal. Apprehending that the King might hear of this result, and immediately make some public and formal declaration of his determination, on conscientious and religious grounds, to maintain the Catholic disabilities, and thus assume an attitude similiar to that which his father had assumed, Peel, on the 12th of January, addressed a letter to the Duke of Wellington, offering, if he desired it, to retain office and assist him in carrying the projected measure. The letter was accompanied by a very clear and cogent memorandum, which explained the position of the Catholic Question, and suggested certain reasons why the King should authorize the Cabinet to take into consideration the state of Ireland.* The Duke submitted the Memorandum to the King,† who gave the

so entirely alarmed at their own position, that they express, in the most unqualified terms, their earnest desire for any settlement of the question at issue on any terms. . . It must take place, as I believe, before many months shall pass."- Court of George the 4th,' ii. 380.

*Memoirs by Sir Robert Peel,' i. 284-294.

"When the Duke had made up his mind that he could no longer refuse Catholic Emancipation, without endangering the loss of Ireland, he told the King, who was decidedly averse to the measure, that only one of three alternatives remained to him-either to reconquer Ireland, to make the concession, or to resign. Constituted as the army then was (a), the first was impossible; the choice must then fall on one of the other two. The King demanded time to consider. In the meantime the Duke applied to Peel for his concurrence."-RAIKES, 'Journal.'

(a) That is, with so large a proportion of Irish Catholics.

THE SPEECH FROM THE THRONE.

321

authority as advised; and Peel remained at his post, to the great satisfaction of his colleagues, who unanimously agreed to accept the principle of the proposed settlement. The several measures which the Duke and Peel had in contemplation were submitted to the Cabinet, on the 17th of January, in a Memorandum prepared by the latter. Their objects were the relief of the Catholics from civil disabilities, and the regulation of the Elective Franchise, which was then, to a large extent, in the hands of a class known as Forty-shilling freeholders. And this was followed up by a passage being inserted in the speech from the Throne, which ran as follows:-" His Majesty recommends that you should review the laws which impose civil disabilities on His Majesty's Roman Catholic subjects. You will consider whether the removal of those disabilities can be effected consistently with the full and permanent security of our establishments in Church and State, with the maintenance of the Reformed Religion established by law, and of the rights and privileges of the Bishops and of the clergy of his realm, and of the churches committed to their charge." A reluctant assent having been extorted from the King, Parliament was opened by commission on the 5th of February, and the royal speech read by the Chancellor.*

* Writing on the 6th of February, Greville says:-"Now, then, the Duke is all powerful, and of course he will get all the honour of the day. [He had previously had a misunderstanding with Lord Anglesey, which led to the latter's resignation; so that the Marquis failed to receive the credit which certainly belonged to him.] Not that he does not deserve a great deal for having made up his mind to the thing; he has managed it with firmness, prudence, and dexterity; but to O'Connell and the Association, and 21

VOL. II.

322

THE GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL.

In Parliament the first step of the Government was to introduce a Bill for the suppression of the Catholic Association; and as this was the acknowledged preliminary to the promised measure of relief, it excited no opposition, and passed speedily through both Houses. So far as the Catholics were concerned, they had no motive for maintaining an Association which had done its work. On the 5th of March, Peel brought forward the great measure of the Session. It proposed an oath, in the place of the Oath of Supremacy, by which a Catholic entering Parliament undertook to support the existing institutions of the State, and not to attack those of the Church. It threw open every corporate office, and all municipal advantages; it admitted Catholics to the administration of civil and criminal justice, but it excluded them from the offices of Regent, of Lord Chancellor of England and Ireland, and Viceroy of Ireland, and, as a matter of course, from all offices connected with the Church, the Universities, and Public Schools, and from all disposal of Church patronage. It proposed certain securities and restrictions, the most important being the substitution of a ten-pound for a forty-shilling qualification for the franchise. Unfortunately the Government, by refusing to

those who have fought the battle on both sides of the water, the success of the measure is due. Indeed, Peel said as much, for it was the Clare election which convinced both him and the Duke that it must be done, and from that time the only question was whether he should be a party to it or not. If the Irish Catholics had not brought matters to this pass by agitation and association, things might have remained as they were for ever, and all these Tories would have voted on till the day of their death against them." The Greville Memoirs,' i, 168.