ABSTRACT
During the political changes and struggles of the period under review, few may have perceived the close connection, between the disturbed state of the Church and the transitional character of the State. The ecclesiastical disturbance visible at once in England, Ireland, and Scotland, was as inevitable a sign of the times as the passage of the Reform Bill, or municipal renovation. It was a misfortune to all parties concerned, that the rulers of the State – too ill-prepared for action on the subjects most prominent in their own eyes – were absolutely incapable of intelligent government on ecclesiastical affairs. As a preparation for the great scene of the disruption of the Church of Scotland, which will come before us in the final period of this history, we must look into the transactions of Lord Melbourne’s government with that Church.
