Zunaed ebooks

The Government had been bringing in a coercion bill
for Ireland. It was introduced while the Corn Bill was yet passing
through the House of Commons. The situation was critical. All the Irish
followers of Daniel O'Connell would be sure to oppose the Coercion Bill.
The Liberal party, at least when out of office, had usually made it
their principle to oppose coercion bills if they were not attended with
some promises of legislative reform. The English Radical members, led by
Cobden and Bright, were certain to oppose coercion. If the
Protectionists should join with these other opponents of the Coercion
Bill the fate of the measure was assured, and with it the fate of the
Government. This was exactly what happened. Eighty Protectionists
followed Lord George Bentinck into the lobby against the bill, in
combination with the Free Traders, the Whigs, and the Irish Catholic and
national members. The division took place on the second reading of the
bill on Thursday, June 25th, and there was a majority of seventy-three
against the Ministry.


Pages:
56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80