not by paring down prerogative and patronage, but by enlarging the liberties of the people, that the influence of the crown was destined to be controlled.

The king's

Catholic

question.

Early in his reign, the king was supposed to be in favour of a measure for the relief of the views on the Roman Catholics; and its friends were even speculating upon his encouragement to carry it through Parliament.' But in 1824, he had become violently anti-Catholic;' and so paramount was his influence supposed to be over the deliberations of Parliament, that the friends of the cause believed it to be hopeless.2 Until the death of Lord Liverpool, the Catholic claims having small hope of success, the king was content to make known his opinions in conversation, and through common reports. But when Mr. Canning, the brilliant champion of the Roman Catholics, had become first minister, his Majesty thought it necessary to declare his sentiments, in a more authentic shape. And accordingly he sent for the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of London, and directed them to make known to their clergy that his sentiments on the coronation oath, and on the Catholic question, were those his revered father, George III., and lamented brother, the Duke of York, had maintained during their lives, and

I hear he is for it,' said the Duke of Wellington to Mr. Fremantle. By the by,' he added, 'I hear Lady Conyngham supports it, which is a great thing.'-Court and Cabinets of George IV., i. 148; ib. 218.

2 Ibid. ii. 103, 169, 211.

2 Lord Colchester's Diary, iii. 394; Torrens, Life of Melbourne, i. 324.

which he himself had professed when Prince of Wales, and which nothing could shake; finally, assuring them that the recent ministerial arrangements were the result of circumstances, to his Majesty equally unforeseen and unpleasant." And when political necessity had wrung from Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington, a conviction that a measure of relief could no longer be withheld, it was with extreme difficulty that they obtained his assent to its introduction.2 After he had given his consent, he retracted, and again yielded it :—attempted to deny, or explain it away to his antiCatholic advisers :-complained of his ministers, and claimed the pity of his friends. If I do give my assent,' said he, 'I'll go to the baths abroad, and from thence to Hanover: I'll return no more to England. I'll return no more: let them get a Catholic king in Clarence.' Such had once been the threat of the stout old king, who, whatever his faults, at least had firmness and strength of will. But the king who now uttered these feeble lamentations, found solace in his trouble, by throwing his arms round the neck of the aged Eldon. And again, in imitation of his father, having assented

1 Speech of the Bishop of London at a dinner of the clergy of his diocese, 8th May, 1827; Court and Cabinets of George IV., ii. 324 ; Gentleman's Magazine, xcvii. 457; Lord Colchester's Diary, iii. 486; Ibid. iii. 496. On the 21st May, in reply to a question of Lord Harewood, the Bishop of London stated in his place, that the newspaper account of his speech to the clergy was correct; and thus the King's name was introduced into debate, and his opinions stated in Parliament. Ibid., iii. 508.

2 Peel's Mem., i. 274, &c.; and see Chap. XIII.

3 Twiss's Life of Eldon, iii. 82-87; Peel's Mem., i. 343-350; Lord Colchester's Diary, iii. 607-614.

to the passing of the Act, which he had deliberately authorised his ministers to carry,—he gratified his animosity against those who had supported it,particularly the peers and bishops, by marked incivility at his levée; while he loaded with attentions those who had distinguished themselves by opposition to the government.'

This concession to the Roman Catholics,-which the ablest statesmen of all parties concurred in supporting,-had already been delayed for thirty years, by the influence of the crown. Happily this influence had now fallen into weaker hands; or it might still have prevailed over wiser counsels, and the grave interests of the state.

Hitherto we have seen the influence of the crown

Reign of
William
IV.

His sup

invariably exercised against a liberal policy and often against the rights and liberties of the people. But the earlier years of the reign of William IV. presented the novel spectacle of the prerogatives and personal influence of the king being exerted, in a great popular cause, on behalf of the people. At various times, small expedients port of par- had been tried with a view to restrain the liamentary reform. influence of the crown: but the reform bill, by increasing the real power of the people in the House of Commons, was the first great measure calculated to effect that object; and this measure, it was everywhere proclaimed that the king himself approved. The ministers themselves announced his Majesty's entire confidence in their policy, and his

Twiss's Life of Eldon, iii. 88. See also Lecky, Hist. of Eng land, ch. ii.

determination to support them; and the advocates of the cause, in every part of the country, declared that the king was on their side.

Yet, in truth, the attitude of the king in regard to this measure, at first resembled that which his royal predecessors had maintained against a progressive policy. When ministers first proposed to introduce it, he regarded it with dislike and apprehension: he dreaded the increasing influence and activity of the Commons, and,-alarmed by the spirit in which they had investigated the expenditure of his civil list,—he feared lest, strengthened by a more popular representation, they should encroach upon his own prerogatives and independence." The royal family and the court were also averse to the measure, and to the ministers. But when his Majesty had given his consent to the scheme submitted by the cabinet, he was gratified by its popularity, in which he largely shared, and which its supporters adroitly contrived to associate with his Majesty's personal character, and supposed political sympathies.

He was still distrustful of his ministers and their policy; yet while the tide of popular favour was running high, and no political danger was immediately impending, he gave them his support and countenance. On their side, they were not slow to take advantage of the influence of his name: they

At the Lord Mayor's Dinner, Easter Monday, 1831. Twiss s Life of Eldon, iii. 126.

Roebuck's Hist. of the Whig Ministry, ii. 27, 28; Corr. of Earl Grey with Will. IV., i. 9, 47, 95, et seq., 143, 149; Ibid., ii. 161.

knew that it would be a great aid to their cause; and, sensible of the insecurity of his favour, they took care that it should be widely proclaimed, as long as it lasted. Politicians like Lord Eldon, who, for forty years, had relied upon the influence of the crown to resist every popular measure,-even when proposed by its own responsible ministers,-were now scandalised by this unconstitutional' cry.' Yet what did this cry, in truth, import? The state of parties in Parliament, and of popular feeling in the country, had brought into the king's service a ministry pledged to the cause of Parliamentary reform. To this ministry he had given his confidence. George III., by some bold stroke or cunning manœuvre, would soon have set himself free from such a ministry. George IV., after giving a doubtful assent to their policy, would have reserved his confidence and his sympathies for their opponents: but William IV. at this time, took a part at once manly and constitutional. His responsible ministers had advised the passing of a great measure, and he had accepted their advice. They were now engaged in a fierce parliamentary struggle; and the king gave them,-what they were entitled to expect,his open confidence. So long as they enjoyed this confidence, he exercised his prerogatives and influence according to their counsels. His powers were used in the spirit of the constitution,-not independently, or secretly,—Lut on the avowed advice and responsibility of his ministers.

Twiss's Life of Eldon, iii. 126.