ue to the
crown. The first alternative it is certain that no Parliament would
endure for a moment; the second, by impairing the dignity of the
monarch, could scarcely fail in some degree to threaten the stability of
the monarchy itself.

Canning's ministry was too brief to give time for any transaction of
internal importance. That of Lord Goderich, who succeeded him, though
longer by the almanac, was practically briefer still, since it never met
Parliament at all, but was formed and fell to pieces between the
prorogation and the next meeting of the Houses. But that which followed,
under the presidency of the Duke of Wellington, though after a few
months its composition became entirely Tory, is memorable for the first
great departure from those maxims of the constitution which had been
reckoned among its most essential principles ever since the Revolution.
Of the measures which bear that character, one was carried against the
resistance of the ministry, the other by the ministers themselves. And
it may at first sight appear singular that the larger measure of the two
was proposed by the Duke after those members of his cabinet who had
originally been supposed to give it something of a Liberal complexion
had quitted it. The Reform Bill of 1832--to which we shall come in the
next chapter--has been often called a peaceful revolution. The
Toleration Acts, as we may call the bills of 1828 and 1829, are scarcely
less deserving of that character.

The constitution, as it had existed for the last hundred and forty
years, had been not only a Protestant but a Church of England
constitution. Not only all Roman Catholics, but all members of
Protestant Non-conforming sects, all who refused to sign a declaration
against the doctrine of Transubstantiation, and also to take the
Sacrament according to the rites of the one Established Church, were
disqualified for any appointment of trust. That the object with which
the Test Act had been framed and supported was rather political than
religious is notorious; indeed, it was supported by the Protestant
Dissenters, though they themselves were to suffer by its operation, so
greatly at that time did the dread of Popery and the French King
overpower every other consideration.[192] On the Roman Catholics, after
the reign of James II. had increased that apprehension, the restrictions
were tightened. But those which inflicted disabilities on the Protestant
Non-conformists had been gradually relaxe