ly from the vigour with which he repelled
the attack of the repealers, and from the supposition that he was
not disposed to give up any of the revenues of the Irish church. Mr.
Stanley, however, now retired from the battle by accepting the more
tranquil office of colonial secretary, which had become vacant by
Viscount Goderich being made lord-privy-seal, and advanced a step in the
peerage by becoming Earl of Papon. Sir John Cam Hobhouse succeeded Mr.
Stanley as Irish secretary.

IRISH CHURCH BILL.

{WILLIAM IV. 1832-1833}

While carrying on their measures for tranquillizing Ireland, ministers
had uniformly admitted that grievances existed in Ireland which ought
to be redressed. They had also declared their readiness to propose
expedients for that purpose. At the head of these grievances, the Irish
established church had always been placed, it standing in the peculiar
predicament of possessing large revenues, whilst a majority of the
people belonged to a faith, the clergy of which had once been the
possessors of that opulence. The object of the repealers was to diminish
these revenues, while they disclaimed any wish of seeing them bestowed
on their own clergy. There were others, at the same time, and those
not Irishmen, who, regarding every religious establishment as an evil,
considered the property of the church as a fund which might be seized
for what they denominated the purposes of the state. It was with this
subject that government next dwelt, and in doing so they adopted a
middle course--conceding much, but not conceding all that was required
of them. The measures which they intended to pursue were unfolded in the
commons by Lord Althorp, on the 12th of February. It appeared from his
statement that the total revenues of the Irish church were found not to
exceed L800,000 per annum. On these funds, he said, it was the intention
of ministers, after abolishing first-fruits, to impose a tax varying
from five to fifteen per cent. This tax, however, was not to be imposed
on clergymen whose livings were under L200 per annum. The larger
revenues of the primates, he said, were to be reduced respectively to
the amounts of L10,000 and L8000 per annum. The sum thus collected was
to be applied under commissioners to the abolition of church-cess; the
augmentation of poor livings and building of glebe-houses; the division
of unions, and the erection of churches. With respect to the offices of
deans and chapters, it was pr