he
characteristics of the plain Englishman. He understood zealous
Protestants, and, as his rejected scheme for aiding the priests in
Ireland itself shows, he was also able to apprehend the position of
earnest Roman Catholics. He had, however, not so learnt his Catechism or
his Prayer Book as to understand that the Reformation, if not a crime,
was at least a blunder, and therefore, like other plain Englishmen, he
was not prepared to admit the pretensions and assumptions of a new race
of nondescript priests. Thirteen prelates took the unusual course of
requesting the Prime Minister to reconsider his decision, but Lord
John's reply was at once courteous and emphatic. 'I cannot sacrifice the
reputation of Dr. Hampden, the rights of the Crown, and what I believe
to be the true interests of the Church, to a feeling which I believe to
have been founded on misapprehension and fomented by prejudice.'
Although Dr. Pusey did not hesitate to declare that the affair was 'a
matter of life and death,'[18] ecclesiastical protest availed nothing,
and Dr. Hampden was in due time consecrated.

Neither agrarian outrages in Ireland nor clerical agitation in England
hindered, in the session of 1848, the passing of measures of social
improvement. The Public Health Act, which was based on the
representations of Sir Edwin Chadwick and Dr. Southwood Smith, grappled
with the sanitary question in cities and towns, and thus improved in a
variety of directions the social life of the people. It had hitherto
been the fashion of Whigs and Tories alike to neglect practical measures
of this kind, even though they were so closely linked to the health and
welfare of the community.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] _The Croker Papers_, vol. iii. ch. xxiv. p. 53.

[16] Judge O'Connor Morris, in his interesting retrospect, _Memories and
Thoughts of a Life_, just published, whilst severely criticising the
Whig attitude towards Ireland, admits that Russell's Irish policy was
not only 'well-meant,' but in the main successful.

[17] The first Anglican Sisterhood was founded by Dr. Pusey in London in
the spring of 1845.

[18] _Life of E. B. Pusey, D.D._, by H. P. Liddon, D.D., vol. iii. p.
160.

CHAPTER VIII

IN ROUGH WATERS

1848-1852

The People's Charter--Feargus O'Connor and the crowd--Lord
Palmerston strikes from his own bat--Lord John's view of the
political situation--Death of Peel--Palmerston and the Court--'No
Popery'--The Durham