Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/373

 1850.] Resignation of Sir Robert Peel to his DeatJi, 359 lieutenant. There seemed to be a fatality attending the Whigs in the treatment of subjects on which they were opposed to Peel. In 1835 they had thrown out Sir Robert's Government on the appropriation question, which they had afterwards to abandon ; and now, having joined in the majority which, by defeating the Coercion Bill in 1846, led a second time to his resignation, they found themselves, or thought they did, under the necessity of summoning the new Parlia- ment to a special session in order to pass a more stringent measure. The bill was introduced by Sir George Grey on the 29th of November, and passed rapidly through all its stages in both Houses. There was little else to do ; the discussion of the financial difficulties attending the crisis did little more than fill up the intervals. The election of Roths- child for the city of London had brought to an issue the question of the right of Jews to sit in Parliament without taking an oath "on the true faith of a Christian." Russell moved a resolution affirming their elegibility, which was carried by a large majority, and on the 2Oth of December both Houses adjourned until the 3rd of February. The year 1848 was the year of revolution, of the collapse of arbitrary governments before a sudden uprise of oppressed populations, and the influence of the events which took place first in France, and then in Prussia, Austria, Italy, and other parts of Europe, could not but be felt to some extent in England also. There was no suffering from actual oppression here, and the wise commercial policy of the last few years had relieved the severity of the distress which might else have carried disaffection into the region of violence and revolt ; but there was considerable depression still, which led to want and trouble amongst the population, and there was the sense of political injustice and inequality^ which was felt more keenly when the people of other countries were, for the time, successfully vindicating their rights. The Chartists of the O'Connor faction became more violent in their demonstra- tions, and those of the more sober kind were anxious to form