corded: "Burke himself could not be more
sympathetic, more earnest, and more strong." Another engrossing topic was
that of Ireland. The state of Ireland at this period, as conceded by a
Tory historian of modern England, was a disgrace to the history of the
Nineteenth Century. So wretched was the government of this unhappy
dependency that during the year 1832 alone nearly 1,500 people were
murdered and robbed in Ireland. Instead of giving to Ireland a better
administration, Parliament passed another coercion bill. Tithes for the
Protestant clergy were collected at the point of the bayonet. The cause of
Ireland, as heretofore, was pleaded most eloquently by Daniel O'Connell. He
denounced the Irish Church bill as "the basest act which a national
assembly could sanction." The people became so enraged that when an
Englishman was killed in a riot the coroner's jury returned a verdict of
justifiable homicide. The Court of King's Bench quashed the verdict and
tried the murderer before a jury. He was acquitted in the face of the
clearest proofs against him and in direct contravention of the instructions
of the judge. The spirit of the English aristocracy was indicated by the
fact that a bill for relieving Jews from their civil disabilities was
thrown out by the House of Lords.

[Sidenote: Death of Wilberforce]

On July 26, William Wilberforce died in his seventy-fourth year. He lived
long enough to hear that the bill for the abolition of slavery in the
British colonies, to which he had devoted the greater part of his life, had
passed its second reading, and that success was assured. Of all English
advocates of human freedom he was the most persevering and faithful. After
a distinguished Parliamentary career of forty-five years, he gave up all
political ambitions to devote himself to the cause of humanity and
religion. He had been the intimate friend and associate of Pitt, Fox, G.
Milner, Brougham and Macaulay. His wish that he be buried simply and
privately was not granted by England. He was buried in Westminster Abbey,
close to the tombs of Pitt, Fox and Canning. Around his open grave stood
the royal dukes of Sussex and Gloucester, the Duke of Wellington, Lord
Chancellor Brougham, the venerable Archbishop Howley, with other
representatives from the House of Lords and Commons.

[Sidenote: Tractarian Movement]

[Sidenote: Newman]

[Sidenote: Dr. Arnold]

It was at this period of the ecclesiastical history of England that th