dared, and only yielded at last when Peel in the one House and
Wellington in the other recommended concession.

[Sidenote: A POPULAR OVATION]

The Irish Tithes Bill was subsequently introduced, and, though it now
included the clauses for the appropriation of certain revenues, it
passed the Commons by a majority of thirty-seven. The Lords, however,
struck out the appropriation clauses, and the Government in consequence
abandoned the measure. The Irish Municipal Bill shared a similar fate,
and Lord John's desire to see justice done in Ireland was brought for
the moment to naught. The labours of the session had been peculiarly
arduous, and in the autumn his health suffered from the prolonged
strain. His ability as a leader of the House of Commons, in spite of the
dismal predictions of William IV. and the admonitions of paternal
solicitude, was now recognised by men of all shades of opinion, though,
of course, he had to confront the criticism alike of candid friends and
equally outspoken foes. He recruited his energies in the West of
England, and, though he had been so recently defeated in Devonshire,
wherever he went the people, by way of amends, gave him an ovation.
Votes of thanks were accorded to him for his championship of civil and
religious liberty, and in November he was entertained at a banquet at
Bristol, and presented with a handsome testimonial, raised by the
sixpences of ardent Reformers.

Parliament, in the Speech from the Throne, when the session of 1836
began, was called upon to take into early consideration various measures
of Reform. The programme of the Ministry, like that of many subsequent
administrations, was not lacking in ambition. It was proposed to deal
with the antiquated and vexatious manner in which from time immemorial
the tithes of the English Church had been collected. The question of
Irish tithes was also once more to be brought forward for solution; the
municipal corporations of Ireland and the relief of its poor were to be
dealt with in the light of recent legislation for England in the same
direction. Improvements in the practical working of the administration
of justice, 'more especially in the Court of Chancery,' were
foreshadowed, and it was announced that the early attention of
Parliament would also be called to certain 'grievances which affect
those who dissent from the doctrines or discipline of the Established
Church.' Such a list of measures bore on its very face the unmistake