What policy, asked Mr. Sheil, did he intend to pursue? "Can the spirit which animates the people be subdued? Is the feeling which exists in Ireland but a spark which, with his Wellington boot, he can tread out? Let him look at the spectacle which this country presents. We are one-third of the population of the empire. We are completely organized, and stand in a solid square. We march with a steady and uniform tread; the tramp of seven millions moving together can be heard afar off. Europe listens."*
On the 19th January, the list of the new Cabinet was published. It was found to contain four of Mr. Canning's friends, namely, Lord Dudley, Mr. Huskisson, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Grant. These, with Lords Melville and Ellenborough, were favourable to the removal of religious disabilities; the other seven, says Lord Eldon, in a private letter written at the time (Peel, Aberdeen, Lyndhurst, Bathurst, Goulburn, Herries, and the Premier himself), were "as yet for Protestants, but some very loose." In the Irish executive, no alteration took place. The com
*Speech, 12th January, 1828. Letter to Lady F. Banks, 25th January, 1828. Life, vol. iii., p. 27.