THE events of 1828-9 were a triumph for the political sup-
porters of toleration de facto, not a victory of principle. Catholic
Emancipation was carried because the Irish were prepared to
fight for it, and the English government was not prepared to
put down a rebellion. Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts
really slipped through under cover of the government's em-
barrassment in the final stages of the Catholic struggle.1 This
imposition of toleration, so to speak, from the outside, obscured
the extent to which Whig and Radical attitudes had contributed
to its victory.

Any attempt to answer the question how far arguments in
favour of religious toleration were effective in bringing about
Repeal and Catholic Emancipation must necessarily be con-
jectural. Why did the electors fail to respond to the demand for
a 'Protestant' parliament in 1826 as they had responded in 1806,
and this despite the alarm caused by the Catholic Rent? Why
had the No Popery mobs vanished? Answers from circumstance
can be given, which amount to How, and not Why. It has,
however, been pointed out that the tone of English politics had

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