session of its confidence. Considering all that has occurred since the commencement of the present session-the little progress we have been able to make from the want of the support and confidence of the house that ministers have had the misfortune, on each of four successive nights, to be left in a minority, although on that question they had received the support of those who, not having a general and unlimited confidence in the government, yet have given it their cordial and honourable assistance on every occasion on which it was consistent with their public principles to give it,-adverting to all these considerations, in my opinion, the time is come, when it is incumbent on us to withdraw from the responsibility which office, under such circumstances, imposes. The vote, too, of last night implies, I conceive, a want of confidence in his majesty's government; because, in my opinion, it was not necessary, for any public purpose, to come to that vote. It was tantamount to a declaration, that the House has not that confidence in the present government which would entitle its members to submit to the consideration of the House the measures of which they had given notice. An intention has been announced, likewise, if that vote did not lead to the result which it has led to, to follow it up with an address to the Crown. As embarrassment to public affairs would have arisen from the presentation of that address, and as I have no right to assume the House would take a view with respect to the policy of that address different from the view which it has taken with respect to the resolution, it has appeared to myself and to my colleagues, whose views are in exact conformity with my own,

that it is not our duty to persevere in a useless struggle, which may involve the king, public men, and the country, in additional and unnecessary embarrassment. If we had resolved to continue in office, it would have been our duty to have pressed for an immediate decision with respect to tithes. We could not have proceeded with the tithe bill of which we have given notice, without previously propos ing the resolution for the remission of the claims upon the Irish clergy for payment of the instalments due under the million act, which is one of the principles of the bill I could not anticipate upon it a different conclusion from that to which the House has already come, or that the majority would sanction that resolution without a distinct understanding that the tithe bill was to be framed upon a principle recognizing the vote of last night. Whatever difficulties may attend the subject of tithes, that is a principle which we are resolved never to adopt. As, therefore, we must have proceeded with our bill, while the vote of last night rendered it impossible to proceed with it, we have requested his majesty's permission to relinquish the trusts which he had placed in our hands; and we hold our offices only to prevent public inconvenience, till our successors shall be appointed, I have been anxious to give this explanation in a manner the least calculated to give offence, or to excite angry feelings. For myself, the whole of my political life has been spent in the House of Commons-the remainder of it shall be spent there; and whatever may be the conflicts of parties, I for one would always wish to stand well with the House, whether in a majority or in a minority. Under

no circumstances, under the pressure of no weight, would I ever have advised the Crown to resign that great source of moral strength which consists in a strict adherence to the practice, to the principle, to the letter, and to the spirit of the constitution of the country. That adherence will be the surest safeguard against any impending danger; and it is because I entertain that belief that I consider that a government ought not to persist in carrying on public affairs, after a fair trial, against the decided opinion of a majority of the House of Commons. Although I sincerely regret the necessity which has compelled me to abandon his majesty's service at the present moment, yet, upon the balance of public consideration, I feel that I have taken a course

which is more likely to sustain the character of a public man, and promote the ultimate interests of the country, than if I had persevered in what I believe would have been a fruitless attempt, in the face of the opposition which has hitherto obstructed the satisfactory progress of public business, while I and my colleagues have been in office."

This parting address was received with loud expressions of applause and esteem from all sides of a very full House; and lord John Russell stated his conviction that the retiring minister had acted entirely in the spirit of the constitution. On the same evening, a similar announcement was made by the duke of Wellington in the House of Lords.

He was placed in the difficult situation of a minister dependent on the public voice, and yet determined not to bow the knee to those idols on which democratical superstition bestows the name of popular rights, and in whose worship all that is desirable in civil society is held to consist. The prime minister performed his task with an ability which was unexpected even by those who knew him best. Since the days when Pitt, in his youth, battled, but in far more favourable circumstances, against an unpopular coalition, the House of Commons had presented no similar spectacle. It was there that the fight was to be fought; and there the whole burden of the contest seemed to be laid on the single shoulders of sir Robert Peel; for, though his colleagues were excellent men of business, and of sound and extensive practical information, they furnished no champion of great power in debate. He did not shrink from the work. His mind seemed to have received new energy, and his oratorical talents greater power and brilliance, from the necessities with which they had to combat. He at once took his place in the House, not merely as the first, but without a rival; and even those who longed for the downfall of his power could not refuse their admiration to the mighty talent with which he sustained the contest to the last, ever ready for all emergencies, and manfully meeting every difficulty front to front. The sympathies of the country speedily began to be roused in his favour; the more so when it daily became more manifest that the policy of his administration was founded on no principle which could impede public im

were

provement, or present any obstacle to the development of the real strength and resources of the country. The opposition themselves unconsciously aided this disposition in favour of the administration by selecting their Irish church scheme for its overthrow. The people of England not yet indifferent to the disasters of the protestant church, and the encroachments of popery. They saw the government applying to the question of tithes practical remedies of the same nature, at least, with those to which its opponents themselves, a few months before, had limited their prescriptions; they saw these practical remedies stopped in order to make a declaration that something more would be added to them, provided that something turned out to exist: they saw all this done by means of a catholic party, and to secure the alliance of a catholic party; and they saw that a majority of their own representatives was powerless in the government of the country, borne down by the Irish members, whose principles and language were by no means fitted to conciliate confidence. Wisely did the opposition act in determining instantly to make their resolution a ground of dispute with the crown, if ministers did not yield, rather than to use their majority to introduce it in the form of clauses into the government bill, to be rejected by the House of Lords. They had no time to lose; for public opinion was already beginning to speak out. From the time that sir Robert Peel declared his intention of resigning, if the resolutions were successfully persisted in, addresses poured in upon him from all parts of the kingdom, many of

them requesting him still to continue the struggle, and all of them expressing deep admiration of his integrity, public spirit, and transcendent talent with which he had conducted the government. He acted better for himself and the constitution. It was right to give the opposition no advantage which they might derive from the executive being any longer maintained in a hostile attitude to a majority of the Commons, however that majority might have been brought and kept together. He retired from power, although defeated, acknowledged by all as the greatest man whom the contest had called forth, the first statesman, and the ablest political leader in the empire; and he left behind him the strong and growing conviction on the public mind, that the principles of his government were those best suited to promote the true interests of the empire, and ensure the safety of its civil and religious institutions.

On

The difficulties of the opposition began with their triumph. the resignation of sir Robert Peel, the king sent for earl Grey who, whatever advice he might give his majesty, did not undertake the task of forming a ministry himself. This difficult exploit was therefore again intrusted to the hands of lord Melbourne, who had the disjecta membra of his former cabinet ready to be again put together. Lord Althorp, now earl Spencer, would not return to his place in it, and there were strong reasons to prevent the re-appointment of lord Brougham. The demands, likewise, and the expectations of the Irish allies were to be considered; for by them alone had the battle been won. It might not be prudent as yet to put forward

O'Connell himself or any of his immediate retainers as official persons to be intrusted with the government of the country; but it was necessary, in order to prevent their defection, to come to an understanding with them regarding the Irish appointments, and regarding the extent to which Ireland was to be governed on the principles and for the purposes of the catholic party. To the question so often put during the discussions on the emancipation bill in 1829,-what is to be dreaded from the influence of forty or fifty catholics, even if so many should get into the House of Commons?-it had always been answered that such a body, acting together, would hold the balance, and make what terms they chose with the party to which their alliance would give power and superiority. The prediction had already been literally fulfilled. This popish party had overturned one ministry, and the formation of another now depended upon it.

After sir Robert Peel's announcement of his resignation on the 8th April, the House of Commons met on the 9th merely for an election ballot, and then adjourned till the 13th. On that day sir Robert Peel informed the House that he had received an intimation from his majesty, that the new arrangements were in progress, but were not yet completed; and the House again adjourned till the 16th. On the 16th sir Robert was under the necessity of making a similar communication. Lord John Russell having stated that it was expected the ministry would be finally formed in a day or two, although he could not say it was yet formed, the House