200
GEORGE IY.
wise and comprehensive policy, The question of Catholic Emancipa-
tion. now pressed itself for solution on the statesmen of George 1V.’s
reign.
6. In Ireland naturally the existing restrictions on Catholies were
felt to be an intolerable grievance, There Daniel O’Connell, a man of
intrepid spirit, and possessing remarkabıle gifts of oratory,
Fe organized the Catholic Association for the purpose of con-
Connell. : SEE :
ducting such an agitation as would result in the remova)
of all disabilities from his countryınen and co-religionists. O’Connell
received subseriptions to aid his objects from Irishmen in all parts
of the world, and at home had such influence that he was elected
Member of Parliament for the Connty of Clare while as yet it was not
lawful for him to take his seat in the House of Commons, We have
seen that Canning, who favored emancipation, died in 1827, In 1827
a Ministry came into power under the leadership of the Duko of Wel-
lington and Sir Robert Peel, on the express policy of maintaining the
existing restrietions on Catholies. But soon the Duke, who was 2
statesman of a practical cast of mind, saw that it was useless to oppose
the inevitable, Early in 1828, Lord John Russell carried through
Parliament a Bill repealing the Test and Corporation Acts. "Then for
the first time were Catholies and Protestant Dissenters permitted to
hold offices in corporations ; but the former were still exeluded from
Parliament by the Pupists Disabling Act of 1678, which required evcry
peer and every member of the Hause of Commons to abiure the lcad-
ing doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church,
7. In 1829, Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary, introduced the
celebrated Catholic Emancipation Act, by which Roman
Catholic C(pholies became qualified to sit in Parliament and to
Emanclpa- 019 any eivil office except the regeney, the chancellor-
tion Act. n0ld any civil office except the regency, the chance or
ships of England and Ireland, and the lord-lieutenantship
of the latter country. 'The last-named office was removed from the
lis‘, of excoptions in 1867, and has since been filled by a Catholic,
Catholic emaneipation was vehemently opposed by many zenlous
Protestants, but there are few now of any creed who do not recognize
it as a wise and righteous measure.
8. During the reign of George IV. occurred the memorable struggle
of the Greeks to free themselves frmn the Turkish yoke.
ttle oE Ay carly as 1824, the great poet Byron threw himself into
* this contest, and died at Missolonghi a vietim to his own
ardor. In 1827 the Turks eaptured Athens, and the cause of Greek
independence seemed lost. At this juncture, England, France, and
Russia, Powers which sympathized with Greece each for reasons of its
own, sent a combined fleet into the Levant for the protection of the
endangered country. "Through some misunderstanding, before the
actual declaration of wur, a conflict ensued between the allied fleet