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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
The late 1820's, particularly the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, marked the end of an era in the history of the English Established Church. Earlier, for more than a century, the Anglican hierarchy had served as an appendage of the political system dominated by the landed interests; and since the younger Pitt's time, the Church had functioned politically as an ally of the Tory Party. By the year 1827. however, churchmen faced a rapidly changing political environment.
1. In addition to the Catholic Emancipation Act, mentioned above, Parliament, in 1828, repealed the Test and Corporation Acts. These latter laws, which dated from the reign of Charles II, had excluded anyone from public office who refused to receive the sacrament according to the rites of the Anglican Church.
2. Countess of Airlie, Lady Palmerston and Her Times (London, 1922), 123–36.Google Scholar
3. These names and titles are likely to be confusing because the bishops were often shifted about in their assignments. The situation was particularly fluid after the death of Manners- Sutton in July, 1828, when three important incumbents changed places. Wherever such changes occurred, they are indicated in footnotes.
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12. Peel to the Bishop of Oxford, March 1, 1828. Peel, , Memoirs, I, 70–711.Google Scholar
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18. Ibid., 1491–97.
19. Ibid., 1588–90.
20. Ibid., 1591–1607.
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22. Ibid., 116–131.
23. Ibid., XVIII, 1585–86 and 1591.
24. Ibid., XIX, 163–67.
25. Ibid., 236–37. The Archbishop of Canterbury's vote in favor of the bill was cast by Bishop Blomfield; Dr. Manners-Sutton was so ill that he could not attend the session. The Archbishop died shortly after, on July 21, 1828, and was succeeded by Dr. Howley. Howley was succeeded as Bishop of London by Dr. Blomfield.
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32. Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XIX, 1198–99.Google Scholar Bishop Copleston's position is more understandable when one considers the negotiations which preceded his appointment. In 1827 he had assured the King and the Prime Minister that even though he was sympathetic to the idea of Catholic Emancipation, he was not in favor of legislative action at that time. The King interpreted this to mean that Copleston was safe for all practical purposes. See Aspinall, Arthur (ed.), The Letters of King George IV, 1812–1820 (London, 1938), III, 333–36.Google Scholar
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38. Ibid., 148.
39. This purge had followed a proposal, introduced by Lord John Russell in June, 1828, which would have transferred the two members from the rotten borough of Penryn to Manchester. The measure was supported by Huskisson and the liberal Tories. When Huskisson offered his resignation because he had opposed the government, the Prime Minister quickly accepted. Wellington thus eliminated from his cabinet the very people who could have helped him carry Catholic Emancipation. —See Trevelyan, George M., Lord Grey of the Reform Bill (London, 1920), 209Google Scholar; Butler, J. B. M., The Passing of the Great Reform Bill (London, 1914), 48.Google Scholar
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44. Ibid., 155–59.
45. Ibid., 173–75.
46. Dr. John Bird Sumner succeeded Blomfield as Bishop of Chester in September, 1828.
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69. Mathieson, William L., England in Transition, 1789–1832 (London, 1920), 247.Google Scholar
70. Exposed by King, Lord, 03 2, 1829, Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XX, 644.Google Scholar
71. Exposed by Lord Wharncliffe, Ibid., 715–18.
72. Ibid., 1530.
73. Ibid., 134.
74. Ibid., 244–45.
75. Ibid., 671.
76. Ibid., 725 and 1364.
77. Stanley, A. P., The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold (Boston, 1860), I, 225.Google Scholar
78. Carcus, William, Memoirs of the Life of the Reverend Charles Simeon (New York, 1847), 370–72.Google Scholar
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80. Ibid., 538.
81. Ibid., 635–7.
82. May, T. E., The Constitutional History of England (New York, 1889), II, 376–77.Google Scholar
83. Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XXI, 78–9;Google ScholarAnnual Register (1829), 69–71.Google Scholar
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86. Ibid., 58–75; Annual Register (1829), 69–71.
87. Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XXI, 119–23.Google Scholar
88. Ibid., 143–6.
89. This speech was obviously aimed at the Bishop of Oxford, who later replied to it, Ibid., 146–55.
90. Ibid., 552–55. The amendment would have excluded Catholics from the offices of Lord Treaeurer, Lord Privy Seal, First Lord of the Admiralty, Master General of Ordnance, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary, and Colonial Secretary.
91. The Act as passed abolished the requirement that prospective office holders deny certain Catholic beliefs such as transubstantiation and the invocation of saints. The old oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration, passed by Parliament under various sovereigns, from Henry VIII to William III, were eliminated. In their place, a new oath was substituted which bound members of Parliament and other office holders to serve the monarch, renounce the temporal power of the Pope in Britain, and accept the Anglican Establishment as the state church. However, priests were still excluded from Parliament, and Catholics were denied the right to serve as monarch or to hold the offices of Lord Chancellor of England, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
92. It is interesting to note that neither the Archbishop of Canterbury nor the Archbishop of York voted.
93. Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XXI, 694–6.Google Scholar
94. The Bishop of Winchester, who voted for the Catholic Relief Bill, was soon to repent and rejoin their ranks.
95. Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XXI, 505–506.Google Scholar
96. XXVII, 702 ff; cf. Parliamentary Debates, Lords, XXV, 728–32.Google Scholar
97. On March 5, Lord Durham showed that a petition, presented by Van Mildert, had been signed by two hundred teen age boys, Ibid., XX, 720–21.
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