Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/262

 248 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1833- Ministers were weak, but that they were not agreed among themselves on those very Irish questions which had been the cause of their loss of popularity. The Tories were not anxious for any ministerial movement ; their purpose in all ways was best served by an inaction which prevented what they thought mischief, whilst it discredited their opponents. The Radicals, for their part, were active enough, but for some time their actions were restricted to resolutions directed to subjects to which it was desirable that attention should be invited, but on which definite legislation was scarcely expected. The divisions, therefore, furnished no guide to the extent of the loss, if any, which ministers had suffered ; they were of a sort where Whig help of any kind was unlikely. Thus, on the 25th of February, Mr. Pryme raised a subject which has recently attracted more of the national attention which it so well deserves, by moving that the committee on every inclosure scheme shall in their report certify whether a portion of land is reserved to be let as allotments at low rents to all labourers in the parish who desire it. For this proposal there were 31 votes, against 136. Household suffrage for the counties was not then within view. On the I3th of March Mr. Rippon moved that the bishops ought to be excluded from the House of Lords, and some surprise was expressed that so many as 58 members should vote for such a proposition. The Noes were 125. Another matter in which the predominance of the Church was concerned had a different fate in the Commons. Petitions had been presented to both Houses, from some members of the senate of Cambridge University, for the abolition of religious tests as a necessity before taking degrees. Short debates on the subject took place on the presentation of the petitions, and on the i/th of April Colonel Williams moved resolutions in favour of the abolition of tests. On this Wood moved, as an amendment, for leave to bring in a bill for the purpose, which was carried by 185 to 44. The second reading was carried on the 3Oth of June, by 321 to 174, Peel opposing ; and on the 28th of July by which time the Ministry had been remodelled the bill was read a third time,