position of the Government was thus brought back as nearly as possible to what it had been under Lord Liverpool, twelve months before. The subject of Catholic claims was left an open question, and while the leader of the Lords voted in one way, the leader of the Commons was allowed to vote in the other. But Mr. Huskisson was at best but a pale copy of the illustrious chief who once filled the place which he now occupied. On matters of commercial policy, he was indeed regarded as a personal guarantee for adherence to the principles of progress; but by the importunate assailants of religious exclusion he was regarded as little more than a hostage deserving of individual consideration and respect, but wholly powerless to abate the violence of the re-kindling There seemed to be no reason for anticipating from a ministry so constituted any measure of willing concession. What might be extorted from their reluctant sense of necessity, remained to be tried. A series of resolutions pledging the Association to oppose the return to Parliament of every supporter of the Wellington Cabinet was, after much discussion, carried at a meeting of that body on the 24th January. O'Connell argued in its favour, while Sheil opposed it as premature; we shall presently see

war.

how their relative positions in this respect became reversed.

On the 2nd May, Mr. O'Connell moved that the resolution of the 24th January should be rescinded in consequence of the assent given by the Duke of Wellington to the repeal of the Test Act. He was supported by Mr. Barrett, Mr. Conway, and others; and opposed by Mr. Sheil, Mr. O'Gorman, and Mr. Lawless, who argued that though the original resolution might have been unwise, it would expose them to the imputation of subserviency to power, if rescinded without any recantation on the part of the Duke.

On the 8th of May, the Catholic question was once more brought forward by Sir F. Burdett, supported by Mr. Brougham, Sir J. Mackintosh, Lord F. L. Gower, and others. It was opposed by Mr. Peel, Sir C. Wetherell, and others of less note, and was carried, in a House of 538 members, by a majority of six. Though less disheartening than the result of the division in the previous year, the narrowness of this majority too plainly indicated that so long as the influence of Government continued to be neutralized or hostile, no chance existed of any measure of relief being carried.

The Cabinet of the Duke had been formed by a

coalition between the Canningites and the Tories of Lord Eldon's school, and it necessarily implied the recognition of various open questions. Of these the most important, doubtless, was Catholic Emancipation; yet it was not upon it that the coalition was destined to be broken up. Electoral Reform, which had hitherto been regarded as of little moment in a party sense, had gradually been making way amongst the middle and upper classes of society. Lord John Russell and Lord Althorp headed an increasing minority in the Commons, who demanded the suppression of the rotten boroughs, and the transfer of the representation to the rising commercial towns. Many of the Conservative Whigs, and nearly all Mr. Canning's friends, foresaw the consequences that must ensue by a prolonged resistance to all change of this description; and when, by the decision of election committees, Penrhyn and East Retford had been sentenced to disfranchisement on account of their gross corruption, it was felt that, in the re-distribution of seats thus forfeited, two at least should be given to some great manufacturing town. As leader of the Commons, Mr. Huskisson pledged himself that this should be done; the bill disfranchising Penrhyn, and allocating two seats in future to

Birmingham, passed the Lower House without difficulty, and was sent up to the Lords, where it was thrown out on the second reading. Meanwhile the bill disfranchising East Retford, and transferring its alienated seats to the circumjacent county, had passed through the first and second stage, and stood for committee on the 19th of May. The more liberal section of the Cabinet, feeling that the vote of the Lords did not exonerate the Government from its pledge, desired that the bill should be so far modified as to give the new representation to industrial wealth and population instead of to the landed interest. Being out-numbered however in the Cabinet, they agreed that all the members of the Government should vote for the bill going into committee, and that each of the clauses should be an open question. But when the order of the day was moved on the East Retford bill, Lord Sandon rose and addressed an appeal to Mr. Huskisson, so direct and irresistible, regarding the pledge before mentioned, that the ministerial leader found himself absolutely at fault as to the course which he ought to pursue. It was a curious scene; the House, roused from its torpor by the question of personal honour and good faith which had unexpectedly been raised, grew impatient and

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excited; while Mr. Huskisson, puzzled by the subtleties of his own conscientiousness, and vacillating between his duty to the public and regard for the opinion of his colleagues, found it impossible to come to a decision. At length the debate closed, and the ayes were commanded to go to the right and the noes to the left. Mr. Huskisson turned to Lord Palmerston, who sat beside him, and exclaimed, "What shall I do? It is impossible to resist the appeal which Sandon has made; yet what then becomes of our understanding of this morning?" His colleague said he thought he ought to vote for the amendment, and that, if he decided upon doing so, he for one would vote along with him. It was necessary that those who resisted the amendment should cross the floor, while the opposition came over to the Treasury side; and such was the wavering of Mr. Huskisson up to the last moment, that had he been obliged to leave his seat on the right hand of the chair, and walk across the House in order to vote in the affirmative, it is doubtful whether he would have done so. As it was, he remained with two or three others on the ministerial bench, while Mr. Peel and the rest of those who held office voted

The manner in which the divisions in committee were at that time taken.