ow, nobody quite knows how,
to make themselves appear indispensable to their political party. He
was not, however, without any faculty for improvement, and of late
years he had derived some instruction from Canning's teaching and
example in politics and in finance. Such as he was, his appointment as
Prime Minister in succession to Canning seemed about the safest
compromise the King could make under all the existing conditions. His
position as a stop-gap was maintained but a very short time. During
his Administration, or perhaps it ought rather to be called his nominal
Administration, the substantial result of Canning's recent foreign
policy was seen in the destruction {67} of the Turkish and Egyptian
fleets at the battle of Navarino, which led almost immediately to the
Sultan's acknowledgment of the independence of Greece.

Some differences of opinion on financial questions soon broke out in
the Cabinet, and Huskisson and certain of his colleagues threatened to
resign; and Lord Goderich, seeing little or no chance of maintaining
himself long in his position, got out of the difficulty by tendering
his own resignation. The King accepted the resignation, and there was
then really only one man, the Duke of Wellington, to whom George could
look for the construction of a Government. Accordingly, the Duke
became First Lord of the Treasury, and Huskisson retained, for the
time, his former position. During this Administration Lord John
Russell brought forward his motion for the repeal of the Test and
Corporation Acts; the object of the motion being to abolish all the
conditions which rendered it impossible for the members of any
Protestant dissenting denomination to hold State or municipal office,
unless they were willing to accept a test-oath, which acknowledged the
spiritual supremacy of the Church of England. Lord John Russell's
motion was carried in the House of Commons by a majority of 237 to 193,
and a Bill founded on the principle of the motion was passed through
both Houses of Parliament. This may be described as the first of the
great measures accepted by Parliament for the purpose of establishing
the principle of religious equality, in admission to the rights of
citizenship, among the inhabitants of these countries. Of course, the
establishment of religious equality was yet a good long way off, and it
is a curious fact that the measure that was founded on Lord John
Russell's motion did something very distinct