to its immediate fulfillment, was far from groundless."

However, in December of the same year Mr. Gladstone wrote to his friend
Archdeacon, afterwards Bishop Wilberforce, about the prospects of the
Church of England: "I rejoice to see that your views on the whole are
hopeful. For my part I heartily go along with you. The fabric
consolidates itself more and more, even while the earthquake rocks it;
for, with a thousand drawbacks and deductions, love grows larger, zeal
warmer, truth firmer among us. It makes the mind sad to speculate upon
the question how much better all might have been; but our mourning
should be turned into joy and thankfulness when we think also how much
worse it _was_."

The next event in the life of Mr. Gladstone is marked by a momentous
change in his political position. Scarcely had Parliament met in
January, 1845, when it was announced to the astonishment of everyone
that Mr. Gladstone had resigned his place as President of the Board of
Trade in the Cabinet. He set a good deal of speculation at rest by the
announcement made in his speech on the address of the Queen, that his
resignation was due solely to the government intentions with regard to
Maynooth College. Before, however, he had resigned, Mr. Gladstone had
completed a second and revised tariff, carrying further the principles
of the revision of 1842.

In the session of 1844 Sir Robert Peel, in response to the requests of
Irish members, had promised that the Government would take up the
question of academical education in Ireland, with the view of bringing
it more nearly to the standard of England and Scotland, increasing its
amount and improving its quality. In fulfillment of this pledge the
government, at the beginning of the session of 1845, proposed to