ess had
already given warning of the reception which the Irish members would
accord to any coercion bill, and of their malignant hostility to
Stanley. Efforts were made to delay its introduction, and full advantage
was taken of Althorp's statement that one special commission had been
completely successful. His opening speech, tame and inconclusive,
discouraged his own followers. The fate of the bill appeared doubtful,
but Stanley, who had twice staked the existence of the ministry on its
adoption, reversed the whole tendency of the debate by a speech of
marvellous force and brilliancy, which Russell afterwards described as
"one of the greatest triumphs ever won in a popular assembly by the
powers of oratory".[114] It was in this speech that he proved himself at
least a match for O'Connell, whom he scathed with fierce indignation as
having lately called the house of commons a body of scoundrels. It cost
many nights of debate to carry the bill, with slight amendments, but
Stanley's appeal had a lasting effect, and it became law in April, to
the great benefit of Ireland.

[Pageheading: _IRISH CHURCH TEMPORALITIES BILL._]

Meanwhile, the Irish Church temporalities bill was pressed forward as a
counterpoise to coercion. It imposed a graduated tax upon all episcopal,
capitular, and clerical incomes above L200 a year, and placed the
proceeds, estimated at L60,000 or L70,000 a year, in the hands of
commissioners, to be expended in the repairs of churches, the erection
of glebe-houses, and other parochial charges. In this way Irish
ratepayers might be relieved of the obnoxious "vestry cess," a species
of Church rate, at the expense of the clergy. A further saving of
L60,000 a year or upwards was to be effected by a reduction of the Irish
episcopate, aided by a new and less wasteful method of leasing Church
lands attached to episcopal sees. Two out of four Irish archbishoprics
and eight out of eighteen bishoprics were doomed to extinction, as
vacancies should occur. Dioceses and benefices were to be freely
consolidated, clerical sinecures were to cease, and the more scandalous
abuses of the Irish Church were to be redressed.

As a scheme for ecclesiastical rearrangement within the Church itself,
the bill was sound and liberal, but it was utterly futile to imagine
that it would be welcomed, except as a mere instalment of conciliation,
by Roman catholics who looked upon the protestant Church itself as a
standing national grievan