Newman's Unquiet Grave: The Reluctant Saint - Plot & Excerpts
As he would write in the Apologia, ‘Great events were happening at home and abroad, which brought out into form and passionate expression the various beliefs which had so gradually been winning their way into my mind’. 10 The Reform Act aimed to increase and broaden the British electorate, diversifying representation in parliament and creating new constituencies in the rapidly expanding industrial cities. There were other reforms within the Act, including bids to eliminate bribery of voters and the existence of ‘pocket boroughs’, constituencies that were ‘owned’ by great landowners, giving the aristocracy the right to control representation in the House of Commons. But Newman, like many Anglican priests and bishops, had opposed the Act forecclesiological rather than political reasons. Since parliament ultimately governed the Church of England, the enlargement of representation signalled a House of Commons open to candidates of any creed and of none. Meanwhile the Whig government was set to reform the established Church – a prospect Newman believed would lead to the final destruction of Anglican claims to apostolic continuity and authority.
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