Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/102

 88 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1800- was made by Grenville in words that might form the justi- fication of all subsequent proposals of conciliation, and the condemnation of the whole policy of coercion and repression. " I consider," declared Grenville, " that four millions of Catholic subjects are to be governed by conciliation and kindness, and not by intolerance and exclusion." The Government were dismissed, and the House of Com- mons, elected under their own auspices, and in which they hoped to find a majority to support them against the court, failed them on the first trial. On the 25th of March, a new Cabinet having been formed, the old ministers resigned their seals of office. On the 3rd of April the trial of strength took place. Mr. Brand moved " That it is contrary to the first duties of the confidential servants of the Crown to restrain themselves by any pledge, express or implied, from offering to the King any advice that the course of circumstances might render necessary for the welfare and security of any part of his Majesty's extensive empire." The terms of this resolution were incontrovertible, and the Whigs confidently expected to carry it ; but it was lost by thirty-two votes, the numbers being 258 to 226. Another resolution more directly personal, expressing the deepest regret at the late change of admini- stration, moved by Mr. Littleton, was rejected by a still greater majority, the votes being 244 for and 198 against. These opinions were remarkable not only as deciding the fate of the late administration, but as indicating the lines on which, even under circumstances most favourable to Liberal success, the government of the country was to be conducted. This point is well put by Mr. Wingrove Cooke, who says, " Nothing can more clearly prove the subserviency of the House of Commons, as at that time constituted, than that the same assembly which had pronounced in favour of the Grenville Catholic Bill readily turned over to a Tory administration, and refused by a majority of thirty-two to vote that it was contrary to the duties of a minister to restrain himself by a pledge as to the advice he should offer to the King." *
 * " History of Parties," vol. iii. p. 465.