nd. Lord Grey, whose whole nature inclined him to move along the
path of progress with slow, steady, and stately steps, began to chafe
against the eagerness with which the more Radical reformers were
endeavoring to hurry on the political movement. It was necessary that
the Government should announce a purpose of one kind or another--should
either give a general sanction to the inquiry into the claims and
merits of the Irish Church, or declare themselves against any movement
of reform in that direction. It was found hardly possible for the
Government to ally themselves with the followers of old-fashioned
Toryism, and it soon began to be rumored that Lord Grey could only keep
on the reforming path at the cost of losing some of his most capable
colleagues. Before long it was made publicly known that the rumors
were well founded. Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham resigned their
places in the Ministry. Graham afterwards held office in more than one
Administration that might well be called Liberal, but Lord Stanley
passed the greater part of his Parliamentary life in the ranks of
uncompromising Toryism. He had begun his public career as an
enthusiastic champion of Parliamentary reform, and he was the
figure-head of reform again at a much later date, but on all other
questions he remained a steadfast and a most eloquent advocate of
genuine Tory principles. It may fittingly be mentioned here that the
existence of the Radical party, recognized as such and regarded as
distinct from the ordinary Liberals, began with the debates on the
State Church in Ireland. The passing of the Reform Bill divided the
Whigs and Tories into Liberals and Conservatives, and the discussions
on the Irish Church divided those who had once been Whigs into Liberals
and Radicals.

[Sidenote: 1834--King William and the Irish State Church]

Meanwhile poor old King William was greatly concerned by the attacks
which were made upon the State Church in Ireland. William the Fourth
had a simple sort of piety of his own, and was perhaps somewhat like
the man whom Doctor Johnson commended because, whatever {219} follies
or offences he might have committed, he never passed a church without
taking off his hat. The King knew little or nothing, we may well
suppose, about the Irish Church and the way in which it fulfilled, or
had any chance of fulfilling, its sacred office. But he took off his
hat to it as a Church, and, more than that, he shed tears and
po