Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/402

 388 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1850- consenting to the absolute repeal of the window tax, and defeating a formal amendment challenging their financial policy, which Disraeli moved on the 3Oth of June, by a majority of 242 to 229. They also passed their Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, with many concessions and amendments, in a final form which, after the fierce prelude by which it was intro- duced, was perfectly ridiculous all the thunders of ministers and bigots resulting in a clause by which any person using such titles as those created by the pope should be subject to a fine of ;ioo. Weak as the provisions were, they proved entirely unworkable, and it was not long before the sound policy of Radicals and Peelites was openly justified by the repeal of the Act. On the 8th of August the session which had witnessed such unexpected changes was brought to a close. Again the recess proved as fruitful in important events as the session, and when Parliament re-assembled, on the 3rd of February, 1852, it was met by a Ministry which had lost one of its strongest, most self-reliant, and, as far as Parliament went, its most popular members. In December of 1851 Louis Napoleon had accomplished his great coup d'etat; had destroyed the constitution which he had sworn to maintain ; had imprisoned the members of the assembly who dared to resist his will ; had deluged the streets of Paris with blood ; and had banished from France the most distinguished men who had served her in politics, in arms, in literature, in art, or in any form to which independent thought was necessary. To the author of these crimes the Foreign Minister of England had hastened to express approval and sympathy, and he had been dismissed from his office. It was a righteous judgment, but it was not awarded in consequence of the real offence. The Foreign Secretary was dismissed, not because he had shocked the moral sense of the country, and committed England to the praise of assassination and the encouragement of a conspirator ; but because he had broken through the routine of court and official etiquette, and had not informed his chief or his sovereign of his intentions before they were