sion made a

hustings question.

CHAP. X. intrusion conservatives should unite with high tory Non-intru- moderates to secure the return of a follower of Sir Robert Peel. While on the other hand, a whig candidate, backed by agents of the government, sent down in hot haste from Downing-street, appeared in Perthshire, with non-intrusion for his cheval de bataille in the electioneering conflict. To those who had access to see anything of what was going on behind the scenes of the political stage in London, it was abundantly apparent that not the merits of the church question, whether constitutionally or scripturally considered, nor its connection with the moral and spiritual well-being of the Scottish people, but simply its bearing on the Perthshire election, was the point of view from which the leading statesmen and politicians of the day were regarding it. And when at length, partly through the great territorial influence of conservative landlords, partly through the high personal character of the candidate himself, and partly from the declarations which he made of his willingness to support a non-intrusion bill, the struggle terminated in favour of the conservative,-it was impossible not to mark the diminished interest with which the question came immediately to be regarded by the political supporters of the government, if not by the members of the cabinet themselves. Non-intrusion proved a Diminished less potent spell in the hands of the political conjurors politicians of the reform club than they had anticipated, and in

interest of

in the ques tion on find

ing that it consequence it had become in the eyes of many of

does not

serve their them a thing wholly indifferent if not altogether vile.

purposes in an electioneering contest.

The conservatives, on the other hand, had gained the victory, and as they conceived, without being at

Their CHAP. X.

as the Non-intru

They

sion had

do

with the resuccessful

turn of the

candidate

for Perth

shire, than his party

were disposed to

all indebted to the friends of non-intrusion. candidate had not bid so high on that side whig, and yet the whig had been defeated. forgot, indeed, or did not choose to remember, that their own candidate carried non-intrusion colours as well as his opponent; though the legend which they bore was, it is true, neither so explicit nor so com- allow. prehensive as that which flared upon the banners of his rival. The whig was for the veto of the congregation, as regulated by the assembly's act of 1834. The conservative was for the presbyterial veto, as described in the speech of Dr. Chalmers in the assembly of the year before. But still, this presbyterial veto was to be free from the control of the civil courts, and such as would enable the church courts to secure, in each case as it arose, that no pastor should be intruded upon a congregation contrary to their will. They also forgot, or failed to bear in mind, that with this latter proposition many of the Perthshire non-intrusionists were Reason why induced to close, on the ground of its being given out intrusionists and universally believed, that the conservative candidate was the exponent upon this subject of the views of Sir Robert Peel and of Lord Aberdeen, who were understood, and not without cause, to be more able than the whigs to secure for their plan the concurrence of the house of the Lords. The whig promise, though much the larger and more liberal of the two, many of the conservative non-intrusionists were disposed to think would prove only a tub to the whale. The conservative, on the other hand, engaged for less; but there seemed so much greater a probability of obtaining the measure which his powerful party were

many non

supported

the conser

vative candidate.

CHAP. X. believed to have sanctioned with their approbation, that the less, by not a few, was in these circumstances preferred to the greater measure, on the same principle that an actual bona fide cottage would, by most people, be preferred to a chateau en espagne.

visit to Perthshire

contest.

The conservative chiefs seemed not much disposed, however, to give credit for any share of their candidate's success to non-intrusion at all. Nay rather, they took credit for his having succeeded in spite of Mr. Dunlop's it. It was known that Mr. Dunlop, an able and during the zealous member of the assembly's non-intrusion committee, had gone to Perthshire during the contest, and had cast the weight of his name and influence into the opposite scale. He had He had gone at the urgent entreaty of friends, electors in the county, who wished to have the benefit of his assistance and advice in judging of the precise import of those declarations, in favour of non-intrusion, which the candidates were giving forth; and naturally enough,-dispassionate people would probably use a stronger word and say that necessarily -he decided in favour of the candidate whose declaration went the full length of the church's demands. In all this Mr. Dunlop proceeded on his own private and personal responsibility alone. The circumstance, His visit mis- however, served as a ready excuse, with many of the against the leading conservatives in London, for considering themselves and their party as extremely ill-used by the non-intrusionists, and for looking more coldly than ever upon their cause and claims. Altogether, it seemed as if the Perthshire election had been destined to show, that in the estimation of contending politicians, the gaining of another vote in parliament was a matter

represented,

and turned

cause of

nou-intru

sion in London.

of unspeakably greater moment than the restoring of CHAP. X. peace to the church of Scotland. Patriotism is by no means so strong a principle, even in the highest places of the land, as the love of place and power.

The promised ultimatum of the government.

At length the time arrived when the promised ultimatum of the government was to have been given. The "ides of March" came and went, but the oracle continued silent. The deputies of the assembly's committee were again at their post, and reminded both Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell of their former statement. It was not, however, till after a succession of delays, that at length, on the 26th of March, the same individuals who had represented the committee in February, were again admitted to an interview with Lord John Russell. His lordship explained, as his reason for having kept them waiting long in the ante-room, that he expected to have seen the lord advocate before giving them the answer of the government; but that gentleman not having yet appeared, he was unwilling to detain them longer, and would now therefore, at once, proceed to inform them of the conclusion to which the cabinet, after much consideration of the subject, had come. They Statement of thought," his lordship said, "that they could frame a Russell to measure fitted to serve the object the church had in view, and which ought to be satisfactory; but he did not see any reasonable prospect of their being able to carry it through the legislature. There was so much division on the subject in the church itself, in the country, and in parliament, that they despaired of being able to obtain, at present, the necessary support for such a measure as they would be disposed to intro

66

Lord John

the deputies

of the

Church.

Announces that the government

do not intend to

bill.

CHAP. X. duce. By and bye, perhaps, there might come to exist a greater unanimity on the subject, and then it might be in their power to effect what could not be introduce a attempted now." The deputies represented very earnestly to his lordship the extreme danger of leaving such a question unsettled, that every day's delay must serve to aggravate the existing evils, and to increase the difficulty of finding for them any sufficient remedy; and that to leave the civil and ecclesiastical courts in their present state of collision was to expose to hazard interests of the very greatest moment. His lordship appeared to feel all this, and looked both anxious and perplexed when pressed upon the subject,-but he adhered to the answer he had already given.

of the go

vernment

recalled in

consequence

The deputies had scarcely returned to their hotel when they were followed by the lord advocate, who came in haste to hinder what, however, had been already done a few minutes before, the forwarding of a despatch to the assembly's committee in Edinburgh in reference to the answer just received from the The decision government. He had been with Lord John Russell since the deputies had left him, and had made a comof a repre- munication to him, on account of which, his lordship was willing that his answer might, if the deputies Scotch chose, be held as for the present withdrawn. It appeared that in the course of that afternoon, a meeting had been held of the Scotch members of the house of commons belonging to the liberal side of politics, on the subject of the Scottish church question: and that the decided majority of these members, both in numbers and influence, were of opinion, that the time for legislation had come, and that government ought to

sentation

from the

liberal section of the

members.