CONTINUATION


     Accession of George IV...... Declaration of the King,
     &c..... Dissolution of Parliament..... Cato-Street
     Conspiracy..... Meeting of Parliament..... Bills for
     amending the Criminal Code..... Education Bill..... Motion
     for a Committee on the Corn Laws..... Motion for a Committee
     respecting Free Trade..... The Civil List, &c...... Message
     respecting the Queen..... Trial of the Queen.

ACCESSION OF GEORGE IV.

A.D. 1820

GEORGE IV. had long governed the empire, so that the acquisition of the crown effected no other change than that of the title of regent to king. The assumption of this new dignity, however, was followed by perplexities of great magnitude. He had long repudiated his wife, now Queen Caroline, and she had been living in foreign lands as an exile. This step had alienated the affections of his people from him; and at his accession to the throne, when he was induced to extend the limits of the hostility he had displayed towards his consort, they became, out of sympathy for an injured and helpless female, still more embittered against him. His accession to the throne, however, gave Caroline an opportunity of retaliation, which, as will be seen, she was not backward in exercising.

DECLARATION OF THE KING, ETC.

The first public act of the new king was to summon a council, at which the emblems of office, having been surrendered by the officers of the crown, were immediately restored to their former possessors. His majesty then made a declaration, in which, after having alluded to the demise of his father, and his own long exercise of the royal prerogative, he remarked that "nothing but the support which he had received from parliament and the country, in times most eventful and circumstances most arduous, could inspire him with that confidence which his present situation demanded." He added, that he trusted the experience of the past would satisfy all classes of his people, that it would ever be his desire to promote their prosperity and happiness, as well as to maintain unimpaired the religion, laws, and liberties of the kingdom. This declaration, at the request of the council, was made public; and on Monday, the 31st of January, the king was proclaimed, first, under the portico of the palace, and then at various stations throughout his good city of London. On the same day the members of parliament were sworn in, and they adjourned to the 17th of February. In the meantime, however, alarming reports arose concerning his majesty's health. He was attacked by a severe inflammation of the chest, which had lately proved fatal to his brother; and his physicians were in doubt about the result. Their forebodings, however, proved groundless; after the lapse of a week he was declared out of danger, although it was a considerable time before his health was re-established.

DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.

According to the principles of the British constitution, the demise of the crown is followed by a dissolution of parliament within the next six months. On the meeting of parliament a royal message announced an immediate design of calling a new parliament, and invited them to concur in the necessary arrangements for carrying on the public service during the interval, Loyal addresses, suitable to the occasion, were voted nem. con.; and next day ministers obtained a pledge that the desired measure for the wants of government should be adopted. When the requisite votes of money were proposed, however, Mr. Hume, that pertinacious interrogator, took occasion to ask a very embarrassing question. In the necessary alteration of the form of prayer for the royal family, by his majesty's command, the name of the queen was omitted. Mr. Hume desired to know whether any provision was to be made for her as queen? As Princess of Wales, her former allowance had of course ceased on the death of the late king: was she, as Queen of Great Britain, to be left to wander in beggary through foreign lands? or would parliament make a suitable provision for the maintenance of her dignified station? Lord Castle-reagh endeavoured to evade this subject, and to elude an acknowledgment of the queen's title, by stating that the "exalted personage" should suffer no pecuniary difficulties. In reply, Mr. Tierney, by commenting on the omission of her majesty's name from the liturgy, on the rumours in circulation against her character, and on the report of a commission sent abroad to collect evidence against her, strove to force ministers into a direct consideration of the question; but they still preserved a cautious silence. Other members also endeavoured to provoke them to a discussion on the question; but they still adhered to their text—the required supplies, and these were suffered to pass without a division. This done, parliament was dissolved by commission on the 28th of February.

CATO-STREET CONSPIRACY.

In his speech on the occasion of the dissolution of parliament, the lord chancellor referred, in vindication of their late enactments, to a sanguinary conspiracy which had just been detected, and which, he said, was sufficient to open the eyes of the most incredulous to the dangers of the country. The conspiracy referred to was one of the most desperate that could have been conceived by the perverse mind of man. It had for its object the overthrow of the government, and the irremediable confusion of national affairs, by the assassination of the whole cabinet. The chief leader of this plot was Arthur Thistlewood, who had once served as a subaltern in the West Indies. He had imbibed republican principles in America, and these had been confirmed by a residence in France during the darkest period of the revolution. He had recently been tried as an accomplice of the elder Watson; and when he was acquitted he sent a challenge to Lord Sidmouth, for which offence he was sentenced to a fine and imprisonment. On his liberation he determined to take revenge, and that of the most ample nature. For this purpose he gathered around him men of bold daring and reckless characters. The principal of these accomplices were, Ings, a butcher; Davidson, a Creole; and Brunt and Tidd, shoemakers. After a series of meetings the united band of these desperadoes determined to destroy his majesty's ministers. Their plan was this:—that forty or fifty of them were to commit the tragical act under a pledge of forfeiting their own lives should their resolution fail them; and that other detachments were to seize on the field-pieces at the artillery-ground, and at the London Station in Gray's Inn, and then to occupy the Mansion-House and the Bank, and to set fire to the buildings of the metropolis at different places. This plot was determined upon on, Sunday, the 20th of February; and it was to be put into execution on the following Wednesday, when there was to be a cabinet-dinner at Lord Harrowby's, in Grosvenor Square. It was agreed that a single conspirator should go to Lord Harrowby's with a note addressed to his lordship; that when the outer door should be opened others should rush in; and that while some proceeded to bind the domestics, the rest should perpetrate the horrid massacre. The heads of Lord Sidmouth and Castlereagh were to be brought away as trophies of their success. The whole of the Wednesday was passed in preparations for this fearful tragedy. Arms and ammunition were provided; proclamations were written, ready to be affixed to those edifices which were devoted to the flames; and strict watch was kept on Lord Harrowby's mansion, in order to ascertain whether any of the police or military entered it or were concealed in its vicinity. Towards the evening the conspirators crept towards their place of rendezvous, and by six o'clock all had assembled. The place of rendezvous was a stable in Cato-street, near the Edgeware-road; a building which consisted of two upper rooms, the ascent to which was by a ladder. In the largest of these rooms the conspirators were seen, by the glimmering light of one or two small candles, making ready for their bloody enterprise. They were rejoicing in the speedy prospect of revenge; but their projected crime had been unfolded. Among them was one Edwards, who, though a pretended colleague, was a spy. This man had given them the information of the cabinet-dinner, and then gave the cabinet information of all the proceedings of the conspirators. Every precaution was adopted by ministers to lull suspicion; and the preparations for dinner had been going on as though the ministers would really assemble. By this means the conspirators were detected with arms in their hands. Their capture was effected by a party of police, headed by Mr. Birnie, the magistrate, and supported by a detachment of the Coldstream Guards. The conspirators were on the point of starting for Grosvenor-square, when on a sudden the police entered the room in which they were assembled, and called upon them to surrender. Smithers, an active police-officer, rushed forward to secure the ringleader; but he was pierced through with the desperado's sword, and fell. The lights were now extinguished, and the conflict became general, while some of the gang endeavoured to make their escape. Although, indeed, the police were soon aided by thirty soldiers of the Coldstream Guards, nine of the conspirators only were taken. Thistlewood himself escaped; but, in consequence of £1,000 being offered for his apprehension, he was seized next morning in bed. Others were apprehended also during the two following days; and on the 27th of March true bills, on a charge of high-treason, were returned against eleven of the prisoners. Thistlewood, Ings, Tidd, Brunt, and Davidson were severally tried and condemned, the other six being permitted to withdraw their plea and to plead guilty; five of them received sentence of transportation for life, and the other, who appeared to have been ignorant of the destined purpose of the meeting in Cato-street, received a free pardon. Thistlewood and his condemned associates were brought to the scaffold; and he, with three of them, died with great hardihood, glorying in their purpose, regretting its failure, and declaring themselves martyrs to the prostituted name of liberty.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Although the country was still in a disturbed state, and seditious meetings were held on every hand, yet the elections proceeded without any acts of outrageous violence. The result of the elections was that opposition gained a slight accession of strength; but the new parliament appeared to take the complexion of that by which it had been preceded. Its members began to assemble on the 21st of April; but the session was not opened until the 27th of that month. On that day the king declared in his speech that he should follow the example of his father in solicitude for the welfare of the nation, and that the regal dignity should be supported without any additional burdens on the people. He expressed a determination to maintain public peace and tranquillity, lamented the pressure of distress and the prevalence of sedition, and concluded with a hope that the misguided multitude might be brought back to a sense of their errors. The usual addresses were carried unanimously.

BILLS FOR AMENDING THE CRIMINAL CODE.

Early this session Sir James Mackintosh moved for leave to bring in six bills, founded on the suggestions of the committee appointed by the last parliament to consider the important subject of the amendment of our criminal code. Three of these bills passed into law. The first of these was to repeal the act by which private stealing in shops, to the amount of forty shillings, was made punishable with death; the penalty, however, was still retained against those who should so steal to the amount of ten pounds and upwards; by which it would appear that our legislators conceived that a man's life was not equal in value to such an amount. The second went to repeal certain acts which denounced death to any Egyptian who should remain in England one year, on all notorious thieves who should take up their residence in Cumberland or Northumberland, and on every one who should be found disguised in the mint, or injuring Westminster Bridge. The third repealed various clauses in certain acts, which constituted the offences specified in them capital, and which were converted into simple felonies. Among the offences thus modified were, that of taking away any woman, whether maid, wife, or widow, for the sake of her fortune; the receiving of stolen goods; the destroying of trees, breaking down banks of rivers, and wounding of cattle; the sending of threatening letters; and all the capital offences created by the marriage act and laws of bankruptcy. For these offences, transportation, imprisonment, or hard labour were substituted for death, at the discretion of the judges. Thus the statute-book of England was purified from many grievous stains; but it was still blotted by many imperfections, and even to this day it contains much that requires purging by enlightened legislators.

EDUCATION BILL.

After having rendered important service to his country by his efforts to establish a system for detecting and remedying abuses in charitable funds and establishments, Mr. Brougham brought forward his plan for the education of the poor. This subject, however, was not destined to receive the concurrence of parties at this period, though the object in view was generally admitted to be desirable. The chief difficulty, and that which induced Mr. Brougham to abandon the bill, arose from the dissenters. They opposed it because they conceived that some of the enactments originated in imperfect information respecting the dissenters in this country, and because, overlooking their numbers, property, and intelligence, and religious character, the whole affair was to be under the management of the clergy of the established church. The consequence of this opposition was that, after the first reading of the bill on the 11th of July, it was abandoned. But this failure only seemed to give an additional incentive to the zeal of Mr. Brougham, and he subsequently reaped the fruit of his labours.

MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE ON THE CORN-LAWS.

During this session Mr. Holme Sumner moved for a select committee to take into consideration the agricultural state of the country. The table of the house was loaded with petitions on this subject from all quarters. The petitions complained of distress; and their general prayer was for additional restrictions, fora high permanent duty in place of a limited prohibition, The debates arising from the motion occupied much time and attention. It was seconded by Mr. Western, and supported by Mr. Gooch, who repeated the statement, that without protection the agriculturists of this country were unable to compete with foreign growers; that the act of 1815 afforded no protection; and that measures more effectual were indispensable. Mr. Robinson, president of the board of trade, in reply, deprecated the motion as tending to excite hopes which could not be realized. He was followed by Messrs. Baring and Ricardo, the latter of whom entered into a luminous exposition of the principles of political economy, and condemned all restrictions on the freedom of the corn-trade as injurious in their tendency. The landed interests, however, prevailed, and the motion for the committee was carried. On the following evening, however, ministers succeeded in neutralizing its effects, by proposing that its inquiries should be limited to the best mode of ascertaining the weekly average of corn prices. This was opposed as a trick of state; but it passed by a large majority, and every material alteration of the corn-laws was deferred till a more convenient season.

MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE RESPECTING FREE TRADE.

A commercial question of still greater importance than that of the corn-laws was also, during this session, introduced into parliament. Petitions from the city of London, and from Glasgow, prayed for free trade; and Mr. Baring, who presented that of the London merchants to the commons, insisted that freedom from restriction is calculated to give the utmost extension to foreign trade, as well as the best direction to the capital and industry of the country. No formal motion was made in the commons on this subject; but in the lords, on the 26th of May, Lord Lansdowne moved for a committee of inquiry concerning the foreign trade of the empire. This proposal elicited a speech from the Earl of Liverpool, in which his lordship, as head of the administration, declared his assent to the principles of free trade, expressing his conviction that it would have been better for the world had such principles always been acted upon, and advising the recognition of such exceptions only, as the policy of the world and the laws of the country dictated. The motion was carried unanimously.

THE CIVIL LIST, ETC.

The civil list was settled at £1,057,000; and on the 19th of June the chancellor of the exchequer produced his financial statement. There was an increase both in the army and navy estimates, owing to the augmentation of force, necessary from the peculiar state of the country. The sum total for the service of the year, including the interest of the debt, was estimated at £50,500,000. The ways and means proposed to meet this large expenditure were, exclusive of permanent revenues, a continuation of the usual annual taxes; the sum of £2,500,000 from the produce of the temporary excise duties, which had remained in force during the war; £240,000 arising from the lottery; £260,000 from old naval stores; exchequer bills for £7,000,000 to be funded; and £12,000,000 from the sinking-fund. But all questions, whether financial, commercial, or political, were swallowed up in one absorbing topic—this was the arrival of Queen Caroline from Italy.

MESSAGE RESPECTING THE QUEEN

Queen Caroline had retired to Italy to avoid persecution in 1814, by the advice of Mr. Canning. The persecutions to which she had been subjected arose in a quarter from which she least expected it—from her husband, the regent. Her name was not often mentioned in England during her absence; but though the public seemed regardless of her existence, subsequent disclosures showed that she had not been forgotten by her persecutors. Spies had been sent into Italy to watch her conduct; and the result was that she was finally charged with living in open adultery with an Italian courier, named Bergami, a man whom she had raised from that station to the first office in her household. In consequence of these movements, Mr. Brougham, her legal adviser, made a proposal, in June, 1819, to Lord Liverpool, that the income of £35,000 per annum enjoyed by her royal highness, but which was to expire on the death of his majesty, George III., should be secured to her for life, provided she consented to remain abroad without assuming the title of Queen of England. This singular proposition was stated at the time to be made without the knowledge of the princess; and the reply given was, that when the king came to give attention to the subject, there would be no indisposition to acquiesce in such terms, provided she would give her consent. Thus matters rested till she became Queen of England. Government then thought it necessary that some line of conduct should be taken regarding her, which might prevent disclosures that were on all accounts to be deprecated, and a compromise, founded on Mr.| Brougham's former proposal, was transmitted to her: she was to receive £50,000 on condition of renouncing the royal title, and residing in foreign lands. She had heard of the death of her father, and the accession of her husband in February, while at Rome, and she immediately assumed the royal title, and demanded a guard of honour from the papal government. This demand was not complied with, because no official communication had been received from the king or his ministers on the subject: his holiness, indeed, represented that he did not know whether the Queen of England was in Rome or not. Incensed at this reply, her majesty drew up a narrative, dated Match 16th, relating her wrongs, and in which she stated her determination to repair to England. This document, together with a letter written by her to Lord Liverpool, demanding that her name should be inserted in the liturgy, and that a palace should be prepared for her on her arrival, appeared in the papers about the middle of April, and a general idea prevailed that she was rapidly proceeding towards England. Various reasons, however, concurred which induced her to prolong her sojourn at Rome, so that she did not arrive at Geneva till the 9th of May. From Geneva she dispatched a letter to Mr. Brougham requiring his attendance either there, or at one of the sea-ports. In consequence of this communication, Messrs. Denman and Brougham, with other friends of the queen, held a consultation, in which they agreed to request her to repair to Calais without loss of time. Her majesty quitted Geneva instantly on receiving this advice, and in her route thither she was joined by Lady Anne Hamilton, who had formerly been in her service, and by Alderman Wood, one of the representatives of the city of London. On the 20th she arrived at Villeneuve le Roi, whence she wrote two letters, one to the Duke of York, and the other to Lord Liverpool, declaratory of her intention, to be in London within five days, reiterating also her demand for a palace, and requesting that a royal yacht might be in readiness at Calais to convey her to England. At St. Oroers she was met by Mr. Brougham, and Lord Hutchinson, a personal friend of the king, who was entrusted with a confidential communication. The fact is, ministers had determined, from the evidence in their possession, that the queen could not be received in England with the honours due to royalty, and Lord Hutchinson was sent to intimate this, and to make a similar proposition to that which had before been made. Ministers proposed to settle £50,000 per annum on her for life, subject to such conditions as the king might impose; which conditions Lord Hutchinson stated he had reason to believe, were, that she was not to assume the style and title of Queen of Great Britain, or any other title attached to the royal family of England; and that she was not to reside in England, or even to visit that country: the consequence of such a visit would be an immediate message to parliament, and an entire end of all compromise or negociation. The threatened message to parliament was understood by the queen and her counsellors to signify that a public charge of adultery would be exhibited against her; and, indignant at such treatment, the proposal was rejected as one that could not be listened to for a moment. Lord Hutchinson still made attempts at negociation, but they were all vain; nothing could induce her to change her purpose. Irritated by studied insults abroad; incensed by threats of ministerial vengeance; brooding over the wrongs she had endured from one who had promised before the altar of God to love and cherish her through life; and, above all, assured of the popular support, she pursued her way; and she reached the shores of England on the 6th of June. Although government had made no preparation for her reception, the people's hearts gave her a ready welcome. Multitudes met her on the beach at Dover, with loud acclamations, banners, and every sign of popular enthusiasm. Her progress to London resembled a triumphal procession, and she was met in the metropolis by 200,000 persons, all shouting her welcome at the top of their voices. They would have conducted her at once to Carlton House, but she was induced to go to Alderman Wood's mansion in South Audley Street, there to wait the issue of the matter.

The king was now obliged to take the field against a woman in, whose favour the British people were generally interested. On the 6th of June a message was read from the woolsack, communicating certain papers relative to the conduct of her majesty since her departure from England, which the king recommended to the immediate and serious attention of their lordships. A similar message was also delivered to the commons: and in both houses ministers expressed their intention of moving for an address to the king, and a reference of the papers to a secret committee on the following day. In the commons the minister was anticipated on the 7th by Mr. Brougham, who presented a communication from her majesty, setting forth that she had returned to England for the purpose of maintaining her innocence and rights; protesting against any secret tribunal appointed by her accusers; complaining of the insults received from foreign courts, influenced by that of Great Britain; and appealing to the justice of the commons of England. In reply, after the cheers with which this document was received had subsided, Lord Castlereagh said that ministers were neither persecutors nor prosecutors: the king's message was most gracious; and the secret committee was only a preliminary step to ascertain whether there was any case to proceed with. The trial should be, he added, if there was any trial, open and honourable, Mr. Brougham strongly resisted the appointment of the committee, since although not final, it must deeply affect her majesty's character. Mr. Canning vindicated the conduct of ministers, and Mr. Wilberforce recommended delay, that, if possible, some compromise might be entered into. In consequence of this suggestion of Mr. Wilberforce the house adjourned to the Friday following; and in the interval the queen, on the advice of her friends, made a communication to Lord Liverpool, through Mr. Brougham, in which, deferring to the expressed opinion of the house of commons, she declared herself ready to take into consideration any arrangement consistent with her dignity and honour. In reply, Lord Liverpool referred her to the memorandum placed in the hands of her own attorney-general and the queen declared that this document, which had been superseded by Lord Hutchinson's proposition, was now submitted to her for the first time. She added that the recognition of her rank and privileges must form the basis of any arrangement. In reply, ministers declared that any proposition on the part of the king must have for its basis the queen's residence abroad. To this her majesty rejoined, that she was willing to leave her cause in the hands of any person or persons of high station and character, whom both parties might select; their decision being subject to the approbation of parliament. This proposal was accepted. On the part of the king the Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlereagh were appointed, while Messrs. Brougham and Denman were appointed on behalf of the queen. Meanwhile parliament, to give time for their negociations, was further adjourned. The referees met on the 15th of June; but it was all to no purpose. The protocol set forth that "the queen must not be understood to admit nor the king to retract any position," with which insuperable barrier before them the negociations finished as they had commenced: it was contended in limine, on her majesty's behalf, that her name should be inserted in the liturgy, and as this was refused by the king, the conference was broken up. This failure in negociations was reported on the 19th; but on the following day Mr. Wilberforce asked and obtained further delay, in order that he might make a proposition, which he conceived might set the matter at rest. This proposition was made on the 22nd, and it consisted of two resolutions; one regretting the recent failure of negociation, and the other soliciting her majesty to gratify the house by conceding a few points, for the sake of an amicable arrangement. Lord Archibald Hamilton moved as an amendment that the queen's name should be inserted in the liturgy, which was ably supported by Sir Francis Burdett, who delivered a speech, censuring ministers, which produced a great sensation in the house. In reply, Mr. Canning stated, that, however much provoked by the honourable baronet's speech, he should abstain from entering the lists with him till a future day; which determination produced a sarcastic retort from Mr. Tierney, who observed, that, "as the better part of valour was discretion, he commended Mr. Canning's prudence, in postponing his defence of ministers till the effect of Sir Francis's speech was done away: the fact proved that it was unanswerable." Mr. Wilberforce's motion, however, was carried by three hundred and ninety-one against one hundred and thirty-four. A deputation waited on the queen with the message of the commons; but she peremptorily rejected their advice, and its members were, on their return, hissed and hooted by the populace. Every hope of conciliation being now at an end on the motion of Lord Castlereagh, the commons voted a further adjournment, in order to leave initiatory proceedings to the house of lords. But though the commons waited quietly till their lordships made a further movement in the matter, the country did not. The whole kingdom was turned into one great arena of disputation, in which the innocence or the guilt of the queen was advocated according to the different views of the people. Addresses were sent to the queen from all quarters; and in answer to that presented by the common-council of London, she made this declaration,—"In the many and deep sorrows and afflictions with which it has pleased Providence to visit me, I have derived unspeakable consolation from the zealous and constant attachment of this warm-hearted, just, and generous people; to live at home with, and to cherish whom, will be the chief happiness of the remainder of my days."

The secret committee made their report on the 4th of July. This report stated that the charges appeared calculated so deeply to affect, not only the honour of the queen, but also the dignity of the crown, that in the opinion of the committee it was necessary they should become the subject of a solemn inquiry, which might best be effected in the course of a legislative proceeding. This was followed, on the 6th of July, by a motion in the lords, moved by the Earl of Liverpool, for a bill of pains and penalties; or an act which, according to precedents in former ages, might pronounce the queen guilty of an adulterous intercourse; degrade her from her exalted station; and dissolve the marriage between her and the king. This bill was read a first time as a preliminary step to the introduction of evidence, and then a copy of it was sent to her majesty by the usher of the black rod. The day fixed for the second reading was the 17th of August, on which day counsel appeared in support of the bill and on behalf of the queen.

In the meantime addresses were presented to her from cities, towns, and villages in every part of the United Kingdom. Encouraged by the popular support, the queen took a house at Hammersmith, on the banks of the Thames, and thither processions went every day, except Sundays, numbering on an average 30,000 people. Eventually she was obliged to appoint certain days in the week for receiving them: the other days were employed in riding about the city and its environs, in which she was always followed by a vast concourse of people. The king was, also, compelled to endure some noise and bustle. In their processions to and fro, the people generally stopped opposite his palace, but it was only to show him the bitter feelings which they entertained towards him. So unpopular had he become by this persecution of his wife, that he was compelled to go from London to the cottage, and from the cottage to London under cover of the night; and even then the people were on the watch to salute him roughly as he passed.

TRIAL OF THE QUEEN.

On the 17th of August mobs of the most terrific description surrounded the two houses of parliament, and filled every street in the vicinity. In this state of things the lords took their places to try the queen: the judges being requested to assist at the deliberations. The names of the peers having been called over, Lord Liverpool moved the order of the day for the second reading of the bill of pain and penalties. The Duke of Leinster moved as an amendment that the order should be rescinded; but this was negatived, and the Earl of Liverpool then moved that counsel be called in and heard in support of the preamble of the bill. On the appearance of the counsel Mr. Brougham obtained leave to state his objections to the principles of the bill in its present state of progress, which he did in a speech of great length, and with extraordinary talent. Taking advantage of the popular feeling he concluded in these terms:—"True it is, that your committee has reported in favour of the bill, but that cannot pledge the house: and he is the greatest of all fools who consults his apparent consistency at the expense of his absolute ruin. The sooner you retrace the step into which you may may have been led at an unwary moment, the greater will be the service you render to the country. If you decide that this bill ought not to proceed, you will be the saviours of the state." Mr. Denman followed on the same side with a speech of great eloquence; and the speeches of the queen's counsel were answered by the king's attorney and solicitor-general. Mr. Brougham replied: urging a variety of arguments in favour of his original proposition, and showing the impolicy of the principle contended for by ministers. Successive attempts were made by Lords King and Grey to stop all further proceedings; but their motions were negatived, and the attorney-general was ordered by the lord chancellor to state his case. His statement occupied two days, and the examination of witnesses engaged the attention of the peers to the 6th of September. The evidence in support of the bill was summed up on the 7th of September, and on the 9th an adjournment took place to the 3rd of October, in consequence of an application from her majesty's counsel. On that day Mr. Brougham entered on the defence in a speech of great power; and he was followed by Mr. Williams, who declared that he should be able to rebut many of the prominent points sworn to in the prosecution by the clearest testimony. The examination of the witnesses for the defence lasted from the 5th of October to the 24th, and Mr. Denman proceeded to sum up the evidence. At the conclusion of his speech he remarked:—"We have fought the battles of morality, Christianity, and civilized society throughout the world; and in the language of the dying warrior I may say:—


     'In this glorious and well foughten field
     We kept together in our chivalry.'

"While he (Mr. Brougham) was achieving the immortal victory, and the illustrious triumph, protecting innocence and truth by the adamantine shield of his prodigious eloquence, it has been my lot to discharge only a few random arrows at the defeated champions of this disgraceful cause." Dr. Lushington followed on the 26th of October, with a luminous view of the case, and the king's attorney and solicitor-general replied. The peers then debated, and on the 6th of November divided on the second reading of the bill, Which was carried by one hundred and twenty-three against ninety-five. Many peers entered strong protests; and a protest was read from the queen by Lord Dacre, in which she made the most solemn assertions of innocence. In this protest it was observed, that "unless these unexampled proceedings should bring the bill before the commons, the queen would make no reference whatever to the treatment experienced by her during the last twenty-five years." This innuendo produced its effects. The lords, indeed, now evidently began to tremble, lest they should be precipitated into the gulf which by their recent vote they had approached. It was felt, moreover, that the king did not come into court "with clean hands;" and therefore when the divorce clause came under discussion several peers, and among them several bishops, who considered the queen guilty, declared their aversion on religious scruples, to vote for it. The partisans of the queen, headed by Earl Grey, seized the advantage offered to them by this difference of opinion among her opponents, and they gave their strong support to it, and the clause was carried. But by this movement the fate of the bill became evident. It was read a third time by a majority of nine on the 10th of November; but there was yet one question to be put,—"that this bill do now pass," and ministers shrunk from the point. The queen petitioned to be heard by counsel against this final step; but Lord Liverpool, in reply, declared that with so small a majority, in the actual state of public feeling, he, and his colleagues felt bound to abandon the bill. A motion was made that the question should be put off to that day six months, which was carried; and thus ended, in defeat and disgrace, the domestic war which George IV. had been carrying on for twenty-five years against his consort. On the 29th of November, her majesty went in state to St. Paul's to return public thanks, on which occasion she was surrounded by such multitudes as to make it difficult for her to reach the cathedral. The general joy was also manifested by illuminations, ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and the presentation of addresses of congratulation. But Queen Caroline was soon destined to see her popularity wane. Tired with the constant rout, orders were given that addresses should only be presented on one day of the week; and she gradually withdrew herself from the leaders of the whig party. This was the signal for the desertion of her cause. What Queen Caroline was doing soon became as indifferent to the people as what other members of the royal family were doing, and her final fate an object of curiosity more than of interest. At the close of the trial of Queen Caroline, parliament was prorogued to the 23rd of January.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

GEORGE IV. 1821—1823.


     Meeting of  Parliament..... Debate on the Holy Alliance.....
     The Catholic Question..... Motions for Parliamentary
     Reform, &c...... Report of the Agricultural Committee.....
     The Navigation Laws..... The Supplies, &c. Coronation of
     George IV...... Death of Queen Caroline..... Meeting of
     Parliament..... Changes in   the Cabinet..... Motion   to
     restore   Roman Catholic Peers to their Seats in
     Parliament..... Motion on Agricultural Digress, &c..... Acts
     for the Reduction of Expenditure..... Debates on the
     Currency..... Reduction  of Imposts, &c...... Motion   for
     Parliamentary Reform..... Cause of the Greeks.....
     Prorogation of Parliament..... Change in the Cabinet.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

A.D. 1821

Parliament reassembled on the 23rd of January, and was opened by the king in person. In his speech, he expressed satisfaction at decreasing evils with reference to domestic concerns; and in noticing foreign commotions, he stated, that his great object would be to preserve the blessings of peace. He noticed the queen, but it was only to suggest the settlement of a provision upon her. But notwithstanding these pacific demonstrations the opposition in both houses prepared all their strength for the overthrow of the ministry. The whigs joined the radicals, and one of the results of this alliance was the presentation of petitions praying for the restoration of her majesty's name to the liturgy; reprobating the late bill of pain and penalties; and requesting the house to exert its influence with the king to dismiss his ministers. In consequence of these petitions a motion was made on the 26th of January, by Lord Archibald Hamilton, for a vote of censure on ministers for the omission of the queen's name in the liturgy; but though ably supported by Messrs. Brougham, Hobhouse, Scarlett, Wetherell, and Sir James Mackintosh, the motion was lost by a large majority. A few days afterwards, on a proposition by Lord Castlereagh, for a committee to take into consideration a provision for the queen, Mr. Brougham stated that her majesty was resolved not to accept of any settlement, while her name was excluded from the liturgy. But notwithstanding this statement, his lordship proposed a provision of £50,000 per annum, and after vehement debates the vote passed without a division, and a bill for this annuity was forwarded through the usual stages. On the 5th of February, Lord Tavistock renewed the attack on ministers, by a motion of direct censure on the whole proceedings against the queen, with a view of compelling the ministers to resign. This motion, however, was lost by a large majority; and a last effort made in the queen's cause, namely, a motion made for the restoration of her name to the liturgy, met with a similar fate. In the meantime the queen had been reduced to the necessity of either being left without any provision, or of accepting the voted settlement, in contradiction to the statement made by her counsel. Her acceptance of it was necessary to her very existence, but the inconsistency of this determination extinguished all her influence over the public mind. By the issue of this trial, indeed, both the king and the queen were lowered in the public estimation: the respect of the nation for the throne and its occupant especially was greatly impaired.

DEBATE ON THE HOLY ALLIANCE

During this session the consideration of foreign affairs was brought before parliament by motions from Lord Grey in the lords, and by Sir James Mackintosh in the commons. The ostensible object of these motions was the production of all communications between his majesty's government and foreign states on the concerns of Naples. In reality, however, the purpose of these motions was to elicit the minister's sentiments concerning the conduct of the Holy Alliance, whose manifesto, recently published at Troppau, had excited feelings of alarm among all the friends of constitutional liberty throughout Europe. In his speech Lord Grey adverted to a document published at Hamburgh, purporting to be a circular of the allied powers, in which a claim was set up of a general superintendence over European states, and the suppression of all changes in their internal administration, hostile to what the alliance deemed legitimate principles of government. These monarchs, his lordship said, had assumed the censorship of Europe; sitting in judgment on the internal transactions of other states, and even taking on themselves to summons before them an independent sovereign, in order to pronounce sentence on a constitution which he had given to his country. Ministers, in their defence, said that our government was in no respect a party to the league; and the motion for the production of the papers was negatived. When the declaration against Naples arrived, however, the subject was renewed by a motion made by Lord Lans-downe, for an address to his majesty for a remonstrance with the allied powers. But this was met by the pretext of a strict neutrality adopted by Great Britain; and Naples was left to fall into the hands of the Austrians.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

Grattan, the great advocate of Catholic emancipation, had recently departed this life; but there were still men in parliament able to advocate his principles. On the 28th of February the question was brought forward by Mr. Plunkett, whose able and lucid speech elicited acclamations from all parts of the house. Mr. Peel was the chief opponent of the measure; but the motion for a committee was carried by a majority of six votes. The house resolved itself into a committee on the 2nd of March, when six resolutions, proposed by Mr. Plunkett, received the sanction of the house. On these resolutions he framed two bills; one repealing disabilities, and the other enacting securities for the safety of the Protestant succession to the crown, and of the Protestant church. These bills passed the commons; but in the upper house the atmosphere was not quite so congenial to their existence. Their fate was decided on the second day's debate, by a speech delivered by the Duke of York, presumptive heir to the throne. He remarked in that speech:—"Educated in the principles of the established church, the more I inquire, and the more I think, the more I am persuaded that her interests are inseparable from those of the constitution. I consider her as an integral part, of that constitution, and I pray that she may long remain so. At the same time there is no man less an enemy to toleration than myself; but I distinguish between the allowance of the free exercise of religion and the granting of political power." This speech had its effect: the bill was thrown out by a majority of one hundred and fifty-nine against one hundred and twenty.

MOTIONS FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, ETC.

While the peers were thus engaged the commons were considering the subject of parliamentary reform. Mr. Lambton proposed to divide the kingdom into elective districts, extend the franchise to all householders, and limit the duration of parliament to three years. This plan being rejected, Lord John Russell proposed another, which would have extended the right of electing members to populous towns then unrepresented in parliament, and disfranchise every borough convicted hereafter of corruption. The house, however, was not yet prepared to go even thus far, for the motion was rejected by a majority of one hundred and fifty-five. But one decided measure of practical reform was at least effected this session; this was the disfranchisement of the corrupt borough of Grampound, and the transfer of its privileges to the populous county of York.

REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE.

Early in this session, from numerous petitions presented on the prevalence of agricultural distress, and on the motion of Mr. Gooch, a committee had been granted to investigate this subject. The report of this committee was presented to the house on the 18th of June; and it stated that the complaints of the petitioners were founded in fact, in so far as they represented that, at the present price of corn, the returns to occupiers of arable land, after allowing for the interests of investments, were by no means adequate to the charges and outgoings. It also acknowledged that the committee, after much anxious inquiry, had not been able to discover any means calculated to relieve the present pressure. The report, in fact, when made public, extinguished all hopes which had been entertained from the labours of the committee. It stated, "So far as the pressure arises from the superabundant harvests, it is beyond the application of any legislative provisions; so far as it is the result of the increased value of money, it is not one peculiar to the farmer, but extends to many other classes of society." This was essentially true; and our legislators, perceiving that they could not alleviate the distress by legislation, left the matter to be ameliorated in the progression of time.

THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

In the course of the last session ministers had proclaimed views in favour of free trade; and these were more formally developed this year by series of resolutions, proposed by Mr. Wallace, president of the board of trade, the object of which was to pave the way for a complete revisal of the navigation laws, and the removal of those restrictions which forbade the free interchange of commodities in foreign shipping. Leave was given to introduce bills for the enactment of these important measures in the ensuing session.

THE SUPPLIES, ETC.

The total amount of supplies for this year was £20,018,200; and in aid of the ways and means £13,000,000 were taken from the sinking-fund. A sum of £500,000, also, arose from the pecuniary indemnity paid by France. A preposition to repeal the malt-tax was negatived; but ministers afforded some relief to agriculturists by removing the duty from horses employed in husbandry. In the debates on the estimates of expenditure, Mr. Hume pursued his plan of sifting and disputing almost every item of supply; and though he did not succeed in effecting any reduction of expense, yet by this system ministers were compelled into the necessity of originating measures of retrenchment. Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 11th of July.

CORONATION OF GEORGE IV.

It had been intended that the king's coronation should have taken place in August, 1820; but the queen's appearance had set that intention aside. Her trial further delayed it; but after the storm of passion with which that was accompanied had subsided, it was announced that the coronation would take place on the 19th of July of the present year. This announcement brought the queen again into the field. On the 25th of June she preferred a claim to be crowned like her royal predecessors; and the case was argued, at the king's request, before the privy-council. Her majesty's claim, however, was rejected; and as soon as she received it, she stated her fixed determination to be present at the ceremony, and demanded a suitable place to be provided for her accommodation. This also was refused; and the queen then requested the Archbishop of Canterbury to crown her alone, a request with which he had not the power to comply. Thus repulsed she prepared a protest, which she determined to deliver personally into the king's hands on the day of his coronation. This occasioned expectations that the celebration of the coronation would be interrupted, if not prevented, by some popular commotion or infraction of the peace. Every precaution, however, was taken by ministers to preserve the public tranquillity, and to draw off public attention from the queen. Shows, balloons, fireworks, and all sorts of entertainments attracted the populace from the vicinity of the abbey, while, in case any commotion should arise, every disposable regiment was brought into or near the metropolis. There needed, however, no warlike preparation; for while the queen's popularity had abated, that of the king had so much increased as almost to fulfil Lord Castlereagh's prediction, that, at the end of six months after the trial of the queen, his majesty would be the most popular man within his dominion. He had, in fact, from that time been courting popularity, and the goddess had greatly favoured him. On the day of the coronation, therefore, no tumult was created in favour of the queen; she, in fact, on whom the populace, almost as one man, had, but a little time before, waited with addresses, assuring her of support and commiseration, was allowed to go from door to door of the abbey seeking admittance, and to be at every door rejected with contumely and scorn, with impunity. George IV. was crowned without interruption; and a ceremony more august and imposing in all its parts, or more, calculated to make the deepest impression both on the eye and the feelings, could not be conceived. But the propriety of the pomp and magnificence displayed may be questioned, as the nation was still suffering from the effects of the late expensive war.

DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE.

Although Queen Caroline had borne her wrongs and injuries proudly up to the coronation of her husband, yet, by the treatment she on that day received, not only from officials, but the populace, her spirit was at length subdued. She had placed her last stake on the hazard of a day; and having totally failed in her object, sunk under the deepest humiliation. But death came to the relief of all her anxieties and all her woes. Soon afterwards she was attacked with an obstruction of the bowels, which, in her state of mind and body, brought on mortification, and terminated fatally on the 7th of August. Her ruling passion was strong in death. She directed that her remains should be interred in her own country, and that this inscription should be engraved on her tomb:—"Here lies Caroline of Brunswick, the injured Queen of England." Her funeral procession was attended with riots of a serious description. The first stage, where it was to cross the sea, was to Romford in Essex. The road that led to that place from her residence on the banks of the Thames was through the heart of the capital, by her husband's palace, and St. Paul's Cathedral. Ministers unwisely sought to prevent the corpse from proceeding in this direction, and endeavoured by the military to force it up a narrow street or lane, so that it might reach the northern outskirts of London, and get into the Romford road without occasioning any popular commotion. The populace, however, whose predilection for the queen, now that she was dead, seems to have returned, were determined that the procession should proceed by the natural route. To this end the pavement was torn up, trenches made in the road, and the avenues blocked up in every other direction. The people triumphed; but at Hyde-Park upper-gate a conflict between the military and the people took place, and two of the latter were shot dead. At length the hearse was forced into the city; and here the procession was joined by the lord mayor and other authorities; the shops being closed, and the bells of the different churches tolling. It is said that his majesty, who, at the time these commotions took place, was enjoying the pleasures of conviviality in Ireland, expressed in somewhat contemptuous terms his dissatisfaction at the want of arrangement and energy on the part of ministers. But this seemed to proceed from the failure of their plans rather than from any respect to his deceased queen. She was persecuted even to the last. In the course of the procession Sir Robert Wilson remonstrated with some soldiers on duty, and this humane interference deprived him of his commission; the directing civil magistrate, also, who consulted humanity in preference to his orders, was dismissed from office. It was unmanly to persecute the departed while in the land of the living; it was unworthy of manhood to carry resentment beyond the grave.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

A.D. 1822

On the meeting of parliament in January, one of the first subjects taken into consideration was the state of Ireland. For some years that country had been comparatively peaceable, but distress and outrage were again walking hand in hand in every part. To repress the spirit of lawless outrage, the Marquess of Londonderry—Lord Castle-reagh, who had succeeded to that title at his father's death—introduced and carried two bills for arming the administration with additional powers, the insurrection act, and the suspension of the habeas corpus. Several members wished the state of Ireland to be thoroughly investigated; but this did not accord with the views of ministers. At length a famine, from the failure of the potatoe-crop in 1821, spread over the country, and disease waited in its train. A fever, of the typhus kind, swept off its thousands, while starvation carried off its thousands more. Government, on discovering this, placed £500,000 at the disposal of Lord Wellesley, the lord-lieutenant, to be dispensed in charitable relief, or in employing the poor on works of public utility, and private charity afforded even more effectual aid; but still the people of Ireland could not be wholly rescued from the calamity which had overtaken them. Many were snatched from the jaws of death by this timely relief, but many more perished.

CHANGES IN THE CABINET.

The continued distress of the agriculturists in England, at the commencement of this year led to some modification in the state of public parties. At many county meetings such a loud and imperative call for retrenchment and remission of taxation, was made by both landholders and farmers, that the treasury-bench began to feel alarm. This, in fact, drove them to the expediency of strengthening their ranks by opening the doors of office to the Grenville party; which, though not united with the whigs, was generally opposed to ministers. Lord Grenville, the political head of the party, had retired from public life, but the Marquess of Buckingham was gratified by a ducal coronet, and Mr. Charles Wynne was made president of the board of control. A greater accession was gained in the exchange of Lord Sidmouth for Mr Peel, as secretary of state for the home department. Lord Sidmouth, however, was permitted to retain a seat in the cabinet, but Mr. Canning was compelled to retire, the part which he had taken in the affairs of the queen having created feelings of resentment against him in the king's mind.

MOTION TO RESTORE ROMAN CATHOLIC PEERS TO THEIR SEATS IN PARLIAMENT.

On the 30th of April, Mr. Canning, "wishing perhaps to give éclat to his departure from the scene of his glory," moved in the house of commons for leave to bring in a bill for restoring the right of sitting and voting in parliament to Roman Catholic peers. In his speech he asked; "Do you imagine it never occurred to the representatives of Europe, when contemplating the imposing spectacle of the coronation; that it never occurred to the ambassadors of Catholic Austria, of Catholic Fiance, or of states more bigoted, if there be any more bigoted, to the Catholic religion, to reflect, that the moment this solemn ceremony was over, the Duke of Norfolk would become disseized of the exercise of his privileges among his fellow peers? stripped of his robes of office, which were to be laid aside, and hung up, until the day, when the coronation of a successor to his present most gracious sovereign should again call him forth to assist at a similar solemnization? Thus after being exhibited to the peers and people of England, to the representatives of princes and nations of the world—the Duke of Norfolk, highest in rank among the peers—the Lord Clifford and others, like him, representing a long line of illustrious ancestors, appeared as if they had been called forth and furnished for the occasion, like the lustres and banners that flamed and glittered in the scene; and were to be, like them, thrown by as useless and temporary formalities. They might, indeed, bend the knee and kiss the hand; they might bear the train, or rear the canopy; they might perform the offices assigned by Roman pride to their barbarian forefathers—Purpurea tollant auloa Britanni—but with the pageantry of that hour their importance faded away. As their distinction vanished, their humiliation returned: and he who headed the procession of peers to-day, could not sit among them as their equal, to-morrow." This motion was strongly opposed by Mr. Peel, who was unable to see any reason for exempting Roman Catholic peers from political restrictions to which a community professing the same tenets were by law subject. The bill, notwithstanding, passed the commons by a majority of five; but it was rejected by the lords.

MOTION ON AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS, ETC.

Early in this session Mr. Brougham moved that it was the duty of the house to relieve agricultural distress by a reduction of taxes. This motion was made with a view of trying the strength of parties, as the small corps of Grenvillites, which had lately joined their ranks, could not support ministers, if the country members deserted them. Lord Londonderry met this covert attack on the ministers, however, by an assurance, that they intended to propose measures for that purpose, so that the arrow aimed at them fell pointless to the ground. The motion was negatived from this assurance, and his lordship soon after proposed the reappointment of the agricultural committee. On the report of this committee he submitted a plan of relief to the house; the principal heads of which were a repeal of the annual malt-duty, and a loan of £1,000,000 in exchequer-bills to the landed interest, on the security of warehoused corn. It was also enacted that when wheat should reach eighty shillings a quarter, a new scale of duties should be brought into permanent operation. At the same time the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward two financial operations. The first of these was a reduction of the navy five per cents., to stock carrying only four per cent; the holders having the option of being paid off at par, or of accepting the lower rate of interest with a small increase of capital as a bonus: the second was a plan to diminish the present charge for naval and military half-pay and civil pensions, known in financial jargon under the name of the dead-weight, by extending it in the form of annuities over a period of forty-five years, instead of allowing it to be gradually extinguished through the death of annuitants. This scheme appeared fallacious to many members, and unintelligible to others; but it was passed by the house, though subsequently the chancellor of the exchequer had to remodel his plan, as the great capitalists complained of its principles. The arrangement was completed in the following year by a bargain with the Bank of England.

ACTS FOR THE REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURE.

During this session ministers felt themselves obliged to yield to the loud call made upon them for the reduction of expenditure. Encouraged by the co-operation of many of the landed proprietors, opposition commenced a series of attacks on the cabinet on these grounds. The first attack was made by a motion to repeal the salt-duty, which was defeated by the small majority of four only. Sir M. W. Ridley next moved for the reduction of two out of seven lords of the admiralty, which was carried by a large majority against ministers. Thus encouraged, Lord Normandy proposed an address to the throne for the dismissal of one of the two post-masters general, and opposition again triumphed. They now assailed one of the strongholds of corruption, the diplomatic expenditure of the country. But here they were defeated. Lord Londonderry declared that if the house persisted in going into a committee on that subject, it would be the signal for breaking up the administration. This menace had the effect of bringing over the country gentlemen to vote with the cabinet as heretofore, and the motions for inquiry were lost by large majorities.

DEBATES ON THE CURRENCY.

In order to relieve the agricultural distress, Mr. Western brought forward a motion on the subject of the currency. He moved for a committee to inquire into the effect which the act of 1819, for the resumption of cash-payments by the Bank, had produced on our manufacturing and commercial interests. In his speech he assigned the alteration of the currency as the chief cause of the calamity, since it operated injuriously on all classes except the fundholder and annuitant, and by its ruinous effects on private contracts, as well as public payments, was calculated to endanger all kinds of property. Mr. Huskisson combated his views at considerable length; and moved as an amendment, "that this house will not in any way alter the standard of gold and silver." The house then adjourned; and on the following day the debate was resumed. After many members had spoken on both sides of the question, Mr. Peel rose, and said, that "he would not enter on the discussion of abstract subjects. From the reasonings of gentlemen, down to the speech of the honourable member for Westminster, he was at a loss to guess the objects of the committee. The honourable baronet fairly stated that the real object of the motion was to repeal the bill of 1819; he had declared that the aim of the honourable gentleman, Mr. Western, was to establish a new standard of value, and to reduce the value of one pound to fourteen shillings. The house, he hoped, would pause before they adopted a proposition for reducing the value of the currency by one-third. An honourable gentleman had talked of establishing and securing the foundations of public prosperity; but what would be the consequence to-morrow if that night they adopted the proposition of the honourable gentleman? Every man of common sense would buy up every guinea in the country; the whole of our mercantile transactions would be disturbed, and all private contracts be open to inquiry and to defeat. Seven or eight years had already elapsed since the house had pledged itself to return to the ancient standard of value. In 1814 the house came to a resolution that the Bank of England ought to return to cash-payments; in 1816, when his right honourable friend proposed a resolution on the subject, the Late Mr. Horner would not consent until an express declaration was made, that the legislative would see that cash-payments should soon be resumed; and his proposition was accordingly adopted. But the restriction was continued to enable the Bank to resume cash-payments with greater convenience; so that since 1814 the country was accommodating itself to this new state of things; and after having accomplished that object, the house was told that the intent of the honourable gentleman's motion was to reduce the value of money from twenty to fourteen shillings. With respect to the situation of the public creditor, he has been paid in a depreciated currency. The public creditor lent his money in 1798 and 1800 on the understanding that, when the Bank restriction should expire, he would be entitled to his demand in the ancient standard of value. If the house, therefore, were to come to any adjustment of the value proposed by the honourable gentleman, undoubtedly the creditor would have a right, and would demand the full payment of his debt. It should be recollected that a great number of persons held debentures who were not the original purchasers, but had bought them for a full and valuable consideration; could the government turn round upon these persons, and say, The original holder gave for this debenture only eighty pounds, you gave ninety-five pounds, but we will not pay you more than eighty pounds? If the house were to proceed upon this principle there would be an end for ever to the very idea of national faith—that faith which had supported us under every difficulty, and which constituted the pride, the glory, and the support of this country." These arguments prevailed; parliament determined not to interfere with the currency. On a subsequent day, however, as the distress among the agriculturists grew to an alarming height, ministers repealed that part of the bill of 1819 which confined the issue of small notes to the period of 1823; the privilege was extended till January, 1833. This measure had the effect of causing symptoms of returning prosperity. Country bankers increased their paper issues; farmers obtained a higher price for their produce; landlords were paid a higher rate for their land; and the natural consequence of all this was the prosperity of trade and commerce. At the same time it proved to be an illusive prosperity.

REDUCTION OF IMPOSTS, ETC.

Warned by their recent defeats, ministers, on the completion of their financial arrangements of this year made several reductions in the imposts. They had resisted the abolition of the salt-tax, but they now announced an intention of lowering it from fifteen to two shillings a bushel. They also remitted the annual duty on malt, the additional tax on leather, and that on windows and hearths in Ireland. By these means a reduction of taxation was effected to the amount or £3,500,000. These important measures were followed by several bills having for their objects the relaxation of the navigation laws, and the promotion of the system of free trade. Ship-owners raised a loud outcry against these enlightened enactments; but time has shown that they were equally beneficial to themselves as to the community at large. It was said that the repeal of the ancient navigation laws would enable other states to outstrip our own and prepare our ruin; but so far from increasing foreign competition, and diminishing British production, it has been the means of decreasing foreign importation, and of increasing our domestic manufactures.

MOTION FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM

Early in this session Lord John Russell called the attention of the commons to the subject of parliamentary reform. The scheme he proposed was to add one hundred members to the house, to be returned by the counties and larger towns, and to divest the minor boroughs of half the privileges they enjoyed. This was a moderate proposal, and yet it met with the most strenuous opposition, and especially from Mr. Canning. He conjured the house to oppose the introduction of any visionary schemes; and asserted, that a search after abstract perfection in government was not an object of reasonable pursuit, because it would prove vain. He added:—"I conjure the noble lord to pause before he again presses his plan on the country. If, however, he shall persevere, and if his perseverance shall be successful, and if the results of that success be such as I cannot help apprehending—his be the triumph to have precipitated those results, mine be the consolation, that to the utmost, and the latest of my power I have opposed thorn." The motion was negatived; and the proposal of a general resolution by Mr. Brougham on the influence of the crown, which was introduced with the same ultimate views of reform, shared the same fate.

CAUSE OF THE GREEKS—PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

The contest which was raging between the Greeks and their oppressors this year came under the notice of parliament. The Mussulmen had everywhere committed the most atrocious cruelties, and the sensations of horror which they produced in England caused Mr. Smith to put a question in the commons, regarding connivance, or at least neglect of remonstrance on the part of our diplomatic agents. Lord Londonderry answered in a flippant manner, that a calamity had occurred in which ten or twelve hostages had been executed, but which was justified by the barbarity of the Greeks. Sir James Mackintosh now took up the question in a strong remonstrance. He asked whether it was mentioned in any of the despatches that the markets of Smyrna and Constantinople were filled with Greek ladies and children? whether ministers could afford the nation any account of the new slave-trade recently established in the East for Christian families? and whether any of those persons who had been murdered at Constantinople had been under the protection of the British minister, or had surrendered themselves to the Turks under any pledge, promise, or assurance of safety from our ambassador? Lord Londonderry now confessed that eighty or ninety individuals had been executed; but he denied that they could be considered at all under the protection of the British government, or in such a situation as to require our interference.

Many questions of minor importance were discussed this session, but none that requires our consideration except the foregoing. Parliament was prorogued on the 6th of August: and then, on the 10th, the king paid a visit to Scotland; to drink "health to its chieftains and clans, and to bless the land of cakes."

CHANGE IN THE CABINET.

While the king was in Scotland an event occurred which caused a change in the cabinet: this was the death of Lord Londonderry who put a period to his own existence. The difficulty in finding a successor to the deceased minister was so great as to subdue the resentment which the king entertained toward Mr. Canning. He had recently been appointed governor of India; but just as he was preparing to set sail he was invited to take the high office of secretary of state, which he accepted. About the same time Mr. Robinson was made chancellor of the exchequer, and Mr. Huskisson president of the board of trade. About the time of his death Lord Londonderry was about to join the congress of Verona, and the Duke of Wellington was deputed to take that place. His grace nobly endeavoured to stem the despotic acts of the sovereigns assembled; but all his endeavours proved unavailing.

They still pursued the despotic measures they had commenced, and Spain especially was doomed to feel their tyranny.

CHAPTER XXXIV

GEORGE IV. 1823—1825


     Meeting of Parliament..... Affairs of Agriculture and
     Commerce..... The Supplies..... The Catholic Question.....
     Affairs in Ireland..... Motions to Reform the Criminal
     Law..... Motion to Reform the Scotch  Representation.....
     New Loudon Bridge Bill..... Motion respecting the Duty on
     the Leeward Islands..... Expenses of the Coronation.....
     Munificence of George IV...... Irish Tithe Commutation Bill,
     &c—Prorogation of Parliament..... State of the Country.....
     Meeting of Parliament..... Attack on Ministers with
     Reference to Spain, &c...... Financial Statements..... The
     Trade Question..... Alien Bill, &c...... Discussion on the
     Revolt in Demarara,&c...... State of the British
     Colonies..... East India Affairs.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

A.D. 1823

Parliament reassembled on the 4th of February. It was opened by commission; and in the speech his majesty declared that he would be no party to those proceedings at Verona which sanctioned the interference of France with the internal affairs of Spain; and that he would endeavour to avert the calamity of war between those countries. This declaration elicited general approbation; but it was thought by some that more energetic measures should be taken than those adopted by ministers. During the session Lord Ellenborough moved in the upper house for an address to his majesty, expressing, in high terms, a condemnation of the conduct of France and other allied powers, as well as of the British cabinet, in requiring Spain to alter her constitution at their dictation. The majority of the lords, however, seemed to consider that ministers had used every judicious and practicable effort to prevent the attack on Spain; and the motion was rejected. A similar disposition prevailed in the commons. Some few thought further interference necessary, and Mr. Mac-donald introduced a motion to that effect, but it was lost by a majority of three hundred and seventy-two against twenty. So Spain was left to the mercy of the despots: soon after despotism was restored in that country, together with Ferdinand VII.

AFFAIRS OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE.

The distress of the landed interests was early discussed in the commons, and it led to a proposition made by Mr. Whitmore for reducing the import price of grain two shillings a year till it should fall to sixty shillings. This was negatived; but government manifested a disposition to open the trade in corn. At the same time the foreign committee was reappointed, and further steps taken to free commerce from restrictions.

THE SUPPLIES.

The new chancellor of the exchequer brought forward his budget on the 21st of February. The total revenue of the year was estimated at £57,096,988, and the expenditure, at £49,852,786. This left a surplus of above £7,000,000, and Mr. Robinson proposed to relieve the burdens of the country by a repeal of assessed taxes to the amount of £ 2,000,000, retaining the other £5,000,000 toward the liquidation of the national debt. His views and statements obtained much applause, so that he carried his estimates for the year triumphantly.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

A motion was made on the 17th of April for a committee on the Catholic claims by Mr. Plunkett The discussion on this subject was chiefly remarkable for an attack made by Mr. Brougham on Mr. Canning. After praising the conduct of Mr. Peel, who had never swerved from his opinions, and who had not taken office with the secret understanding to abandon the question in substance, while he continued to sustain it in words, alluding to Mr. Canning, he remarked that when the point was, whether he should submit to a sentence of transportation to India, or be condemned to hard labour at home—when his fate depended on Lord Chancellor Eldon, and his own sentiments on the Catholic question, he had exhibited the most incredible specimen of monstrous truckling for office, which the whole history of political tergiversation could furnish. At this moment Mr. Canning suddenly started up and exclaimed "It is false." A deep silence ensued; after which the speaker called on the right honourable secretary to retract an expression which he must know violated the rules and orders of the house. Mr. Canning replied that though he was sorry to have used any word which might violate the decorum of the house, yet he would not retract the sentiment. This declaration was repeated; and as Mr. Brougham would not explain till Mr. Canning had retracted, Mr. Bankes moved that both members be taken into custody by the serjeant-at-arms. All parties, however, were extricated from their situation by the suggestion made by Sir Robert Wilson, of an hypothetical and mutual explanation. Mr. Bankes then withdrew his motion, and the belligerents declared that they would forget their recriminations. The motion which gave rise to this scene was lost.

AFFAIRS IN IRELAND.

A large portion of this session was wasted in discussing the insolence exhibited by the agents of the ascendant party in Dublin. Lord Wellesley had prohibited the Orange faction to dress up the statute of King William in College Green: a ceremony which perpetuated animosity and frequently led to strife and bloodshed. This gave the Orangemen great offence; and on one occasion, when his lordship visited the theatre, a bottle was thrown at him from the gallery. Three persons were taken into custody, and the attorney-general indicted them for a misdemeanour; but the grand jury would only find bills of indictment against two of them, and as two persons cannot commit a riot, the finding released them all. Mr. Plunkett then filed an ex-officio information against those persons, whom he, on evidence received, believed guilty; but the petty jury would not agree in their verdict, and the prisoners were discharged. This matter was investigated in parliament; but the result merely showed in what a daring manner juries were packed, and the name of justice was abused in Ireland.

MOTIONS TO REFORM THE CRIMINAL LAW.

On the 21st of May Sir James Mackintosh renewed his efforts to reform our criminal code. He moved a series of resolutions on the subject; and though these were rejected, four bills were afterwards brought in to the same effect by Mr. Peel. By these bills government was enabled to employ convicts in hard labour, and the judges were relieved from the obligation of passing sentence of death on certain malefactors, except in case of murder. Subsequently Mr. Lennard obtained leave to bring in a bill to abolish the old and barbarous law which sentenced the corpse of one guilty of felo de se to be buried at two cross-roads with a stake driven through it; leaving the burial to be performed in private, without the ceremonies of the church.

MOTION TO REFORM THE SCOTCH REPRESENTATION.

On the 2nd of June, Lord Archibald Hamilton proposed five resolutions on the state of the Scotch representation, the last of which went to pledge the house to take the subject into its serious consideration during the next session, with a view to effect some extension of the number of votes, and to establish some connexion between the elective franchise and the landed property of the country. His lordship invited the attention of Mr. Canning to this subject, as one with which he had not grappled, and as perfectly different from the question of English reform; but he failed in securing his approbation, and the motion was negatived by one hundred and fifty-two against one hundred and seventeen voices.

NEW LONDON BRIDGE BILL.

Mr. Brogden brought up the report of a bill on the 6th of June, by which the sum of £150,000 was to be advanced by government toward the construction of New London Bridge. Mr. Hume objected against this advance in the shape of a gift, and Mr. Ricardo agreed with him. Mr. Alderman Wood, however, argued that the work was one of great national utility, and not intended exclusively for the benefit of the city of London; that the money was to be paid by instalments, extending over a time of seven years; and that the corporation were ready to give up nearly £200,000 that was in their hands, and to raise £400,000 more on mortgage. The report was received, and the resolution for the proposed advance carried.

MOTION RESPECTING THE DUTY ON THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.

On the 9th of June Mr. Creevey called the attention of the house to a grievance under which the Leeward Islands were oppressed, by what was called the four and half per cent. duty. He held petitions in his hands from five of these islands, setting forth their distress, stating their utter inability to bear such a tax, and throwing themselves on the liberality of parliament. Mr. Creevey proposed the abolition of this impost; an impost on which were saddled so many pensions granted to the aristocracy. He thought it hard that these five islands should maintain so many ladies and gentlemen in England. He was, he said, the last man to interfere with the private arrangements of the royal family, but the king had given pensions to two of his sisters at the expense of the unfortunate Leeward Islands, and why these islands were singled out for such a purpose he could not conceive. Then there were pensions of £500 each to the Misses Fitzclarence; and there were also gentlemen high in office who condescended to allow the Leeward Islands to support their families. Right honourable gentlemen, he continued, could not say that they were ignorant of the colonies; their own acts proved their knowledge of the fact. They could support the colonies and urge their distress in a particular way; they could tax East India sugar, and the consumer of West India sugar in England; but they could not abate that tax out of which their own pensions were derived. Mr. Canning, who received one of these pensions, replied at great length, objecting to this motion as affecting the right of the crown to this branch of revenue, and its right of appropriating the same in any manner deemed suitable by his majesty's government. With respect to his own case, to which Mr. Creevey had made allusion, he remarked:—"It was true that many years ago he had held an office; on retiring from which, by uniform practice, and that sanctioned by law, he be-came entitled to a pension of £1200 per annum. He had waived his claim to that annuity; and it was true that such right was afterwards commuted for a pension of half the amount for a person who had direct claims on him for protection. It was certainly open to parliament to deliberate on particular instances in the disposal of this fund, and he would not complain of the manner in which the right honourable gentleman had exerted his right in the present instance; yet he well knew that he could be taunted with the names of persons in the same situation, and connected with parties whom he highly respected. That mode, however, was too invidious to follow: the house had a right to examine into supposed abuses as to the application of this as well as any other branch of the revenue; but the honourable gentleman had not made out any case calling for censure." The motion was lost by a majority of one hundred and three against fifty-seven.

EXPENSES OF THE CORONATION.

During this session the expenses of the coronation came under consideration. Mr. Hume inveighed not only against the length of time which had elapsed before they were laid on the table, but against their enormous extent. The chancellor of the exchequer, he said, had promised that they should not exceed £100,000; but they were £238,000, the surplus having been taken from French indemnities. Estimates at variance with the expenses were a farce. And of what service, he asked, was it to attempt the relief of public burdens by cutting down small clerks, and inflicting distress on other individuals, when such sums were expended for such purposes as the decoration of Westminster-hall, which cost £111,000, and the habiliments of his majesty, for which the master of the robes was paid £27,700? Mr. Hume also reproached the ministry with bad faith, in calling for a smaller, and expending a larger sum. He also accused the chancellor of the exchequer and his colleagues with violating the public faith, by taking money to which they had no right in order to pay the difference. He thought the house would fail in its duty to the public, if it did not call for an examination into the profligate extravagance of this affair: and he concluded with a proposal for a committee for such purpose, and more especially to inquire by what authority the sum of £138,000 had been applied to the coronation expenses without the previous sanction of the house. This motion was negatived; and the house next went into committee, in which the sum of £160,000 was proposed toward the civil contingencies of 1823. This gave Mr. Hume an opportunity of exhibiting the extravagant system of expenditure pursued, particularizing items as proofs. He moved for a reduction of £52,799 from the sum required; but Mr. Canning defended the expenditure, and satisfied the house, so that this motion also was negatived.

MUNIFICENCE OF GEORGE IV.

This year the king gave an instance of royal munificence, calculated to benefit not only the present age, but to extend its advantages to remote generations. By a letter addressed to Lord Liverpool he signified his intention of presenting the valuable library collected by his father to the British nation. This letter, with certain resolutions of the trustees of the British Museum on the subject, was by his majesty's command laid before the house of commons. The letter and resolutions were referred to a committee, and on the 16th of April this committee made a report which noticed the great value and extent of the library, and expressed an opinion that if his majesty's magnificent donation were placed under the care of the trustees of the British Museum, the greatest benefit would accrue to the public. The report recommended that a building should be raised for its reception, and that successive grants should be made to effect the purposes above specified. In consequence of this report the house voted a sum of.£40,000 to commence the work, and the foundation of the structure was forthwith laid. The building was completed in 1827, and the following summer this valuable library was transferred to the Museum. It is a splendid monument of the good taste and patriotic spirit of George IV., and will to the latest ages redound to his honour.

IRISH TITHE COMMUTATION BILL, ETC.—PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

During this session an act was passed for the commutation of tithes in Ireland. A motion was made in the upper house by Lord Lansdowne for the second reading of the dissenters' marriage bill, which might enable them to perform the ceremony of marriage in their own chapels. This was warmly supported by Lords Ellenborough, Calthorpe, and Liverpool; but if, was thrown out by a majority of twenty-seven against twenty-one. The session was closed by commission on the 19th of July.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

During this year the prosperity of the country appeared to advance, and the confidence of the people in the government to be established. This feeling was chiefly attributable to the altered tone of the administration, and the tenor of their measures. From their measures commerce and manufactures revived, and, by a natural consequence, agriculture was improved. Unfortunately this revival of prosperity gave a dangerous activity to enterprise, and generated a spirit of headlong speculation, which produced disastrous consequences in a subsequent year. It was during this year, indeed, that the memorable era of joint-stock schemes commenced, which ended in the ruin of many families. They that will be rich often fall into a snare.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

A.D. 1824

Parliament reassembled on the 3rd of February. It was opened by commission, and one of the leading topics of the speech was, the general prosperity of the country; which congratulations were echoed back in the addresses of both houses.

ATTACK ON MINISTERS WITH REFERENCE TO SPAIN, ETC.

Early in this session the affairs of Spain occupied the attention of both houses. In the upper house Lord Lansdowne deplored the fate of that country, which was occupied by French troops, and thought that a greater advance should have been made towards our complete recognition of South American independence. In the commons, Mr. Brougham attacked the tyranny and particular cruelties of the Austrians in one peninsula and of Ferdinand in the other, and denounced the impotent efforts of government to ward off the blow from the constitutionalists. Subsequently our foreign policy was discussed, on motions made by Lords John Russell and Nugent, but Mr. Canning successfully vindicated it. He showed that the conduct of Great Britain had been regulated by a due regard for her own interests and dignity, as well as by an honourable attention to the first principles of international law; and that while we preserved peace, we had by bold remonstrances paralysed schemes formed by the holy alliance for extending their system of interference from the government of Spain to the internal condition of her colonies. These explanations were satisfactory to the house, and the motions were not pressed to a division. Before the close of the year, ministers gave a pledge of their sincerity by admitting the South American colonies into the rank of independent powers. Treaties of amity and commerce were concluded with Mexico, Columbia, and Buenos Ayres, which gave a fresh impetus to trade and commerce.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

With the prosperity of the country the public revenue improved. Taxes had been remitted last year to a considerable amount, but notwithstanding this the revenue had increased. It produced £57,672,999, leaving a clear balance of £1,710,985 over the expenditure, besides the established sinking-fund of £5,000,000. The chancellor of the exchequer proposed to employ a part of this surplus in a grant of £500,000 for the erection of new churches; of £300,000, for the renovation and improvement of Windsor Castle; and of £60,000 for the purchase of the Angerstein pictures, in furtherance of a design to establish a national gallery for the fine arts. In his financial calculations for this year the chancellor of the exchequer anticipated a continued surplus, on the strength of which he proposed a further repeal of taxes to the amount of more than £1,000,000; and as an auxiliary measure, he suggested the discontinuance of certain bounties on fisheries and manufactures, which he considered no longer necessary. In his arrangement an extension of the scheme for reducing the interest of the national debt formed a prominent feature. He proposed to convert the old four per cent, stock, amounting to £75,000,000, into a new fund, bearing interest at three and a half per cent.; and giving the holders the option of being-paid off at par, or of acceding to the new plan. This arrangement met with the decided approbation of parliament, and was carried into execution with great facility. It may be mentioned that during this year Austria unexpectedly repaid £2,500,000 for loans advanced by the British government during the late war. This was but a small dividend on the debt due to England, but it enabled the ministers to be liberal, as they were disposed.

THE TRADE QUESTION

During this session important steps were taken towards a more unrestricted system of trade. One important measure consisted in a repeal of what were still left of the protecting duties between Ireland and Great Britain. Enactments were also passed tending to withdraw British silk manufacturers from the protection of laws which prohibited the importation of foreign silks. The plan adopted for this was to lower the import duties on raw and thrown silk; to repeal all bounties on the exportation of this article of manufacture; and to substitute a duty of thirty per cent, on foreign silks, instead of prohibiting their importation. This scheme met with the opposition of partial interests, but it was carried by a large majority. Among other important measures of relaxation passed this year was the immediate removal of all unequal restrictions on the import and export trade of wool, with a gradual approach to the same system in the linen manufactures. All these measures greatly tended to increase the trade and commerce of England, and to benefit the community at large. The British silk trade is increased two-fold since their enactment, although utter ruin was predicted by the silk manufacturers, and the articles manufactured, though lower in price, vie in beauty with the silks produced by and Indian looms.

ALIEN BILL, ETC.

The alien bill was renewed this session. It was vehemently opposed by Mr. Hobhouse and Sir James Mackintosh; and from their opposition, the act, though carried, henceforward operated with less stringency than before. Much discussion arose on the subject of the abuses in the church of Ireland, but it led to no legislative enactment. Much attention was also given to the state of Ireland; a committee of inquiry being appointed in both houses. But nothing effectual was done to improve the condition of that country. The close of this year, indeed, saw the establishment of a political engine of extraordinary power in the Catholic Association. Mr. O'Connell, a barrister of eminence, soon became the acknowledged leader of the disaffected party, and encouraged them to effect by union and agitation what had been denied to petition. This association subsequently extended its correspondence, and appointed agents for every Roman Catholic parish in the kingdom, and then levied a large revenue under the denomination of Catholic rent, for the support of the demagogues who were at its head. This "rent" continues to be collected to this day, and Mr. O'Connell and his party divide it among them, promising great things in return, but failing to perform their promises from utter, inability. Ireland, therefore, is still hood-winked by interested agitators: stop the "rent," and then they would be silent. Their patriotism depends upon the amount they receive from their miserable, poor, and suffering countrymen.

DISCUSSIONS ON THE REVOLT IN DEMARARA, ETC.

During this session Mr. Brougham called the attention of the commons to the circumstances of a revolt in Demarara. The negroes of that island had been led to believe that their freedom had been granted by parliament, and was withheld by the colonial assemblies. This delusion caused an insurrection; and a missionary, named Smith, was tried by martial law, on a charge of exciting the negroes to revolt, and was condemned to death. His case was sent to England for the consideration of the privy-council; but he died in prison before the pardon extended to him could arrive. Mr. Brougham moved that the court-martial held on him was illegal, and the sentence unjust; and it was with great difficulty that ministers could procure a small majority to acquit his judges. This discussion, however, led to beneficial results. Government formed plans for abolishing the habitual use of the lash; for regulating the punishment of refractory slaves; for preventing the separate sale of husband, wife, and children; for protecting the property of slaves, admitting their evidence, and facilitating their manumission; and for providing them religious instruction, and a regular ecclesiastical establishment, with two bishops at its head; one presiding over Jamaica, and the other over the Leeward Islands, These were the principal measures of parliament during the present session.

STATE OF THE BRITISH COLONIES.

At this time our settlements at the Cape of Good Hope were greatly disturbed by the unpopularity of the governor, Lord Charles Somerset. Another part of the great African continent was also the scene of more tragical events. The administrators on the Gold Coast having taken part in the quarrels of the natives, and violated the terms of a treaty concluded some years before with the Ashantee monarch, he led a well-appointed army against them. Sir Charles Macarthy, Governor of Sierra Leone, advanced against him with a few Europeans and some thousands of barbarian allies; but the King of the Ashantees was victorious. Sir Charles Macarthy was slain, and his forces were defeated with dreadful carnage. Alarm was entertained for the safety of the principal settlements at Cape Coast Castle; but the "Thetis" frigate having arrived with a few troops, and the garrison being strengthened by some auxiliaries from Acra, the enemy were repulsed. They were afterwards overthrown in several engagements by Colonel Sutherland, and compelled to desist from hostilities. In North America our colonies were in the enjoyment of great commercial prosperity, though in Lower Canada dissensions had commenced, which portended future important consequences. From the continent of Australia, also, the most pleasing prospects continued to be unfolded. In New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land the population, from emigration, had doubled itself; and important returning cargoes of wool, &c, began to compensate for the expenditure of the mother country. A brisk trade was also carried on from thence with India and the remotest regions of the world. Similar pleasing features were unfolded in the Society Islands and the Sandwich Isles; in the former of these Christianity was established. In New Zealand, also, there was a marked improvement in the manners of the natives: they began to eat potatoes, which they derived from trafficking with New South Wales, instead of human flesh. These improvements were the elements of a new order of things, to be developed fully in the lapse of time.

EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.

During this year a serious war broke out between the East India Company and the Burmese sovereign. For some years a misunderstanding had existed between the two powers, arising from a mutual claim to the countries of Chittagong and Dacca, Moorshedabad and Cassimbazar. These, the Burmese monarch said, did not belong to India; and on several occasions he had demanded them of the company, threatening to destroy their country if the revenues were not given up. It was the Rajah of Ramere who actually laid claim to them; but he could do nothing without the aid of the Burmese king; and the latter took up his quarrel. Under the administration of Lord Teignmouth and Lord Hastings various petty encounters with the Burmese troops had been sustained, as well as with other predatory hordes of India. The contest between the British government and the Burmese empire did not actually commence till the present year. The Burmese forces had advanced for the purpose of restoring the deposed Rajah of Cachar, who had sought refuge in the Burmese dominions, and whose successor was supported by the British. For this and other acts committed by the Burmese sovereign, it was resolved to chastise him. Early in this year orders were given for equipping a force of about six thousand men at the presidencies of Forts William and St. George; and the two divisions were directed to assemble at Port Cornwallis, in the Great Andaman island, whence the combined forces were to proceed to attack Rangoon, the principal seaport in the Burmese territories. The command was given to Major-general Sir Archibald Campbell; and the total number of troops under him was 8,071, about half being British. The expedition put to sea on the 5th of May, at Calcutta; and a part of the force was detached, under General McCreagh, against the island of Cheduba, and another, under Major Wahab, against Negrais. The rest of the fleet sailed up the Rangoon river on the 11th of May, and anchored off the town. As the place was not prepared for resistance, the governor, after a few shots had been fired from the principal battery, which was quickly silenced by one of the ships, directed the inhabitants to retire into the recesses of the jungle. The city, with its mud houses, was abandoned to the invaders, and everything that could serve for provision was removed far beyond their reach. It had been imagined that the capture of Rangoon, or any part of the enemy's maritime possessions, would induce the king to accept the terms of government. It was soon found, however, that not only the Burmese monarch, but the people of Pegu, whose co-operation had been reckoned upon, were preparing for decided hostilities. Distress soon prevailed among the British troops, for there were no provisions near, and the boatmen of the Rangoon had removed every serviceable vessel out of their reach. To add to the distress of the army, the rainy season set in; and it was also kept in continual alarm by the nightly irruption of the enemy into its lines. The chief command, however, had been given to an officer of ability and zeal; and every obstacle was finally surmounted. On hearing of our offensive operations, the court of Ava lost no time in making preparations for our expulsion. Every town and village within three hundred miles of Bangoon was obliged to send its complement of armed men, under their respective chiefs; and the Irrawaddy was covered with fleets of warriors from all the towns on its banks, proceeding to the general rendezvous of the army. The Burmese monarch had said that the English should not disturb the women cooking their rice at Rangoon; and now that they had not only been disturbed, but driven from their homes, he resolved to be revenged on them. The first conflict took place on the 16th of May, when Captain Birch dislodged the enemy from the village of Kemmendine, a war-boat station three miles above Rangoon. Nothing daunted, however, the enemy, as their numbers increased, gradually approached the British position, and threw up stockades in the jungle within hearing of our advanced posts. Of this work the British commander took no notice, as it was his wish to come into close contact with his antagonists, he being unable to attempt any distant operation. On the 28th of May an advanced corps was stockaded within little more than musket-shot distance from our piquets; and Sir Archibald Campbell, with four companies of Europeans and four hundred native infantry, with two field-pieces, moved out to reconnoitre. His advanced guard soon came on the first stockade thrown across the path; but the work being incomplete its defenders retired after exchanging a few shots. Continuing its march, after a progress of about five miles, the column came to a narrow wooden bridge over a morass, where the enemy was beginning to form. This bridge had just been forced by the fire of the artillery, when one of those tempests which usher in the south-west monsoon came on; and as the field-pieces could be dragged no further, the general left them in charge of the native infantry, and advanced with his European troops. They moved on by échellon of companies; and the left flank, which passed close to the jungle, found some villages defended in front by two stockades, whence proceeded shouts of defiance from the enemy. These stockades were attacked at the point of the bayonet; and a fierce and sanguinary conflict took place, in which great numbers of the enemy were slain. During this attack on the stockades the Burmese general in the plain made no movement for their defence; but as soon as the British were seen in possession of the works, a horrid yell was heard, and the whole line of Burmese troops was seen to advance towards them. They were checked by a company which had not yet been engaged, and by the appearance of those troops which had carried the works, who moved forward to receive these new opponents. An attempt at negociation was now tried by the enemy; but it was rather to gain time than to seek peace. They were, in fact, still occupied in erecting fortifications; and our troops were obliged again to attack the war-boat station of Kemmendine, as well as other stockades in different parts. Before the end of June, however, the enemy recovered from their panic; and, having received large re-enforcements, advanced again, under Sykia Wongee, third minister of state. The jungles were animated with living masses, and their tumultuous preparations for battle contrasted strangely with the stillness and quiet of the British lines. Our troops at this time had been much diminished by sickness and death; but they were recruited by the eighty-ninth British regiment from Madras, and the detachments that had been sent to the capture of Cheduba and Nagrais, places which soon fell into their hands. Early in July a battle took place round the great pagoda, in which the Burmese were signally defeated. Sykia Wongee was recalled in disgrace; but his successor, Soombe Wongee, was not more successful. This latter general lost his life, with eight hundred men, in the fortification; and the jungles and villages around were filled with unhappy creatures who were left to perish. Soon afterward the rains were at their height, and operations ceased in this quarter; but an expedition was sent eastward, under Colonel Miles, who reduced the whole coast of Tenasserim. During the season of tranquility the princes of Tonghoo and Irmwaddy joined the Burmese army, in order to inspire them with confidence, and to keep the officers to their duty. They were accompanied by numerous astrologers, as well as by a corps called "Invulnerables:" men curiously tattooed, and accustomed to exhibit the war-dance of defiance, and to expose themselves to the hottest fire of an enemy, that they might inspire the rest with courage and confidence. The astrologers were some time before they could mark out a propitious day for attacking the British position. At length, however, they fixed on the night of the 30th of August. The invulnerables promised to assault and carry the great pagoda, that the princes and grandees might celebrate the grand annual festival in that sacred place. On the night in question, therefore, this body advanced with swords and muskets, uttering clamorous imprecations against the invaders. They advanced toward the northern gateway; but they were greeted with showers of grape-shot and successive volleys of musketry, which made such havoc in their masses, that they were compelled to seek shelter in an adjacent jungle. At length the Burmese monarch determined to repair the loss of honour which his troops had sustained. He had sent his most celebrated general, Maha Bandoola, to take the command of the Arracan army, destined for the invasion of Bengal. Maha Bandoola had routed a detachment of native infantry at Ramoo, and was busied in erecting stockades as the basis of future operations, when an order arrived for him to return to the defence of the golden empire. His return to Ava not only restored confidence to the Burmese troops opposed to the British, but acted as a spell to draw the reluctant people round his banners. In the meantime, whilst a large fleet of war-boats, with a train of artillery was preparing to fall down the river, and orders were issued for the various detachments to join Bandoola on his progress, the British ranks were thinned by the endemic fever of the rainy season, and a severe dysentery. It was determined to remove the sufferers to Mergui and Tavoy, two towns on the coast of Tenasserim, where they rapidly recovered, and were soon restored to their comrades. In the early part of November, the rains having ceased, and the men again become fit for action, they anticipated with joy a forward movement. At this time re-enforcements were received from Calcutta; and a regiment of cavalry, a troop of horse-artillery, and a rocket corps were ordered to join. Before, however, the British could advance, they had to dispose of the whole military force of wa, This force now consisted of 35,000 musketeers, 700 Cassay cavalry, and other troops, amounting in the whole to 60,000 men. On the 30th of November this great force assembled in the forest of Rangoon, fronting the great Shoedagon pagoda. On the following night the low hum of voices proceeding from the encampment suddenly ceased, and it was succeeded by the distant but gradually increasing sounds of a multitude moving stealthily through the woods. The British commander soon became aware that the enemy's masses had approached to the edge of the jungle, ready to rush from their cover at break of day. A great number of war-boats had been seen in the morning, by the "Teignmouth," coming down the river; and in the evening they came forward with fire-rafts. The post was left open to a furious attack by land and water; but it was courageously defended by the garrison under Major Yates, supported on the river by a small naval force. Hostilities commenced on the morning of the 1st of December with a heavy fire of musketry and cannon at Kemmendine, where the "Teignmouth" was again driven from her station by fire-rafts. The yells of the assailants were distinctly heard by our troops at the great pagoda; but when the firing ceased, and the smoke dispersed, the masts of our ships were still seen at their old station off the fort. In the course of the morning, Burmese columns appeared on the west side of the river, marching in five or six divisions; and when they reached the bank of the river opposite Rangoon, they commenced stockades and batteries for the destruction of our shipping. Later in the day columns were seen issuing ont of the forest, with flags and banners, about a mile in front of the eastern face of the pagoda; and the different corps, successively taking up their positions along a sloping woody ridge, formed the left of the line, the centre of which extended from the pagoda to Kemmendine. When this position was taken, the troops began to apply their intrenching tools with such activity and skill, that, in about two hours their moving masses were concealed behind a mound of earth. A detachment of the British army, however, soon forced these intrenchments, and drove the whole line from their cover. The intrenchments were discovered to be a succession of holes, capable of receiving two men each, and so excavated as to shelter their occupants from the weather as well as from the enemy. Every hole contained a supply of water, rice, and fuel, and a bed of brushwood, on which one man could sleep while the other kept watch. The Burmese re-occupied these trenches in the evening, which they protected by a strong corps; and on the next day they intrenched themselves within musket-shot of the northern face of the great pagoda. As their fire could now be brought to bear on the barracks of the soldiers, it became necessary to dislodge them from various points; and a series of attacks and combats commenced which lasted seven clays. Great spirit was manifested by the Burmese troops; for when their left wing was defeated, it merely retreated on the right, and the struggle was renewed until that division also was routed, with the loss of 5,000 men. Still undismayed, the Burmese general intrenched himself within four miles of the great pagoda, at the village of Kokeen, but he was driven from his post after several brilliant exploits, in which the operations of the army were powerfully seconded by the flotilla. This was the last conflict during this year: after it had taken place the Burmese general retired to Donoobew, about fifty miles up the river. After their defeat the Burmese had recourse to negociations; but they were found to be not sincere, and therefore were unheeded. As a great number of inhabitants had returned to Bangoon, they introduced incendiaries into that town, who lighted up a conflagration which was not extinguished until more than a fourth part of the place was destroyed. During the whole of this campaign the British vessels and their boats were occupied in destroying fire-rafts, most of which were about one hundred feet square, and composed of dry wood piled up, with oil, turpentine, gunpowder, and other combustibles.

CHAPTER XXXV.

GEORGE IV. 1825—1826.


     Meeting of Parliament..... Bill for the Suppression of
     Unlawful Associations in   Ireland..... Catholic Relief
     Bill..... Committee of  Inquiry into  the State of
     Ireland..... Mr. Hume's Motion against the Irish Church
     Establishment, &c...... State of the Irish Charter
     Schools..... Debates on Alleged Abuses in Chancery.....
     Regulation of the Salaries of the Judges..... Rejection of
     the Unitarian Marriage Act, &e...... Act against
     Combinations  among   Workmen..... Free   Trade
     System..... Surrender   of  the Charter   of   the Levant
     Company..... Report of  Treaties..... Financial
     Statements..... Proposals for the Abolition of certain
     Taxes, &c...... Prorogation of  Parliament..... Great
     Commercial  Panic..... The  Burmese War..... Review of
     Foreign Relations.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was opened by commission on the 3rd of February. The speech took a pleasing view of all our affairs, foreign and domestic, except those of Ireland, where strife and animosity still prevailed. The usual addresses were carried by large majorities.

BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF UNLAWFUL ASSOCIATIONS IN IRELAND.

The proceedings of the Catholic Association in Ireland created alarm in the minds of ministers. It was clear, however, to them that public opinion would be against the enactment of a partial law against that body, while the Orange societies, which were also mischievous in their tendency, were tolerated. A bill, therefore, was introduced by Mr. Goulburn "to amend the acts relating to unlawful associations in Ireland." This produced a warm discussion, which extended by adjournment through four nights. In the course of this debate Mr. Canning vindicated himself against the insinuations of those who considered him estranged from the Catholic cause. He remarked:—"I have shown that, in 1812, I refused office rather than enter an administration pledged against the Catholic question. Nor is this the only sacrifice I have made to the Catholic cause. From the earliest dawn of my life, ay! from the first visions of my ambition, that ambition was directed to one object, before which all others vanished comparatively into insignificance; that object, far beyond all the blandishments of power, beyond all the rewards and favours of the crown, was to represent in this house the university at which I was educated. I had a fair chance of accomplishing it, when the Catholic question crossed my path. I was warned, fairly and kindly warned, that my adoption of that cause would blast my prospects; I adhered to the Catholic cause, and forfeited all my long-cherished hopes and expectations. Yet I am told that I have made no sacrifice; that I have postponed the cause of the Catholic to views and interests of my own." Mr. Goulbum's bill was carried by large majorities; but though the Catholic Association yielded to legal authority and became defunct, it was soon resuscitated under a different form. Ostensibly regulating itself according to the late act, it disclaimed all religious exclusions, oaths, powers of acting in redress of grievances, and correspondence with depending societies; and, concealing its intentions under the mask of charitable purposes, it pursued its original course with impunity.

CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.

After the above bill had passed, Sir Francis Burdett brought forward a plan, in which the principal bill for the removal of Catholic civil disabilities was accompanied by two others: one to enact a state provision for the Roman Catholic clergy, and the other to raise the Irish franchise from forty shillings to ten pounds. The principal of these bills passed the commons with large majorities; but it was clearly foreseen that it would not in the lords. In the interval of the second and third readings the Duke of York, in presenting a petition to the upper house from the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, declared that the concession of Catholic claims was repugnant, not only to the king's coronation, but to the principles of the constitution. He added:—"I will oppose them to the last moment of my life, whatever may be my situation, so help me God!" This declaration was extolled by those who opposed the claims, as the most manly, patriotic, and noble expression of sentiment that could be uttered at a critical moment; and it was printed in letters of gold, and became their watchword. On the other hand it gave rise to bitterness of feeling among that class of politicians who were in favour of the bill. Its effect on them was strongly displayed by an intemperate sally into which, on the very next night, Mr. Brougham broke out in the house of commons against the speech of the royal duke, in which he was several times called to order. The great bulk of the nation, however, concurred in the principles to which his royal highness had declared his adherence, from an honest conviction that such concessions to the Roman Catholics were inconsistent with the coronation oath, and fraught with danger to the cause of Protestantism.

The bill was carried up to the lords, and read a first time on the 11th of May; and on the 17th Lord Donoughmore moved the second reading. He was supported by Lords Camden, Darnley, Lansdowne. Harrowby, and Fitzwilliam, and the Bishop of Norwich; and opposed by Lords Colchester, Longford, and Liverpool, and the Bishop of Chester, and the lord chancellor. The debate presented little novelty; on the one side the right of the Catholics to political equality was insisted upon, together with the innoxiousness of their religious creed, &c.; while, on the other hand, it was contended that, with respect both to the nature of the religion in its political consequences, and to the inconsistency of admitting Catholic elements of power into a Protestant constitution, the reasons for excluding Catholics ought to be as operative now as at any other period. The most remarkable circumstance in the debate, was the vehemence with which Lord Liverpool opposed the measure. In allusion to the grand argument in favour of the bill, that of conciliation, he remarked:—"I cannot bring myself to view this measure as one of peace and conciliation. Whatever it might do in this respect in the first instance, its natural and final tendency will be to increase dissensions and to create discord, even where discord did not previously exist. I entreat your lordships to consider the aspect of the times. The people are taught to consider Queen Mary as having been a wise and virtuous queen, and that the world had gained nothing whatever by the Reformation. Nay, more than this: it was now promulgated that James the Second was a wise and virtuous prince, and that he fell in the glorious cause of toleration. Could the house be aware of these facts, and not see that a great and powerful engine was at work to effect the object of re-establishing the Catholic religion throughout these kingdoms? And if once established should we not revert to a state of ignorance, with all its barbarous and direful consequences? Let the house consider what had been the result of those laws, what had been the effects of that fundamental principle of the British constitution which they were now called upon to alter with such an unsparing hand. For the last hundred and thirty years the country had enjoyed a state of religions peace, a blessing that had arisen out of the wisdom of our laws. But what had been the state of the country for the hundred and thirty years immediately preceding that period? England had been the scene of the most sanguinary religious contentions. The blessings of the latter period were to be attributed solely to the nature of those laws which granted toleration to all creeds, at the same time that they maintained a just, a reasonable, and a moderate superiority in favour of the established church. Their lordships were now called upon to put Protestants and Catholics on the same footing; and if they consented to do this, certain he was, that the consequence would be religious dissension, and not religious peace." Upon a division the bill was thrown out by a majority of one hundred and seventy-eight against one hundred and thirty. The two auxiliary bills, called, by way of derision, "the wings," after this failure were of course abandoned, although they also would have passed the commons by large majorities.

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF IRELAND.

In the last session a committee of the lords had been appointed to inquire into the state of those districts in Ireland which were subject to the operation of the insurrection act. Early in this session another committee was appointed to inquire into the state of Ireland generally. The result of the labours of the committee was a brief and vague report, but accompanied by a mass of evidence, which threw great light upon the condition of the general body of the Irish people. It showed that they lived in the most degraded state; that they were without property; and that their existence was sustained by an insufficient quantity of food of the most unwholesome kind. This report, however, was presented at too late a period of the session to be made the basis of any enactments; and though various discussions took place during the session on particular circumstances connected with the state of Ireland, none of them led to any result affecting the condition of the people.

MR. HUME'S MOTION AGAINST THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT, ETC.

On the 14th of June Mr. Hume moved two resolutions relative to the Protestant church of Ireland:—first, "That the property now in the possession of the established church in Ireland is public property, under the control of the legislature, and applicable to such purposes as in its wisdom it may deem beneficial to the best interests of religion and of the community at large, due regard being had to the rights of every person in the actual enjoyment of any part of that property." And second, "That this house will, early in the next session of parliament, appoint a select committee, for the purpose of considering the present state of the Irish church, and the various charges to which ecclesiastical property is liable." The first of these resolutions was negatived without a division, and the second was lost by a majority of one hundred and twenty-six against thirty-seven.

STATE OF THE IRISH CHARTER SCHOOLS.

In consequence of the report of the commissioners on education, which showed that great abuses existed in the chartered schools of Ireland, Sir John Newport called the attention of the commons to that subject. After detailing at considerable length the condition of the funds of these schools, and the barbarous manner in which the pupils placed in them were treated, he moved, "That an humble address be presented to his majesty, expressing the marked sentiments of regret and indignation with which the house of commons perused the details of unwarrantable cruelty practised on the children in several of the charter schools of Ireland, contained in the report presented to both houses of parliament by the commissioners appointed by his majesty for examination into the state of the schools of Ireland; and praying that his majesty may be pleased to direct the law-officers of the crown in that part of the United Kingdom to institute criminal prosecutions against the actors, aiders, and abettors of these dreadful outrages, as far as they may be amenable to law." Mr. Peel admitted that the system of charter schools was one which did not admit of correction, but ought to be extinguished altogether. He stated that an order had been sent prohibiting the admission of any more children upon those foundations. He thought, also, that if any of the masters could be proved judicially to have been guilty of such atrocities as were stated in the report, they ought not only to be dismissed, but prosecuted. At the same time he hoped that Sir J. Newport would so far alter the wording of the motion, as not to assume the existence of the guilty practices which were to constitute the subject of inquiry. In consequence of this suggestion the right honourable baronet withdrew the original motion, and substituted the following:—"That an humble address be presented to his majesty, that he will be graciously pleased to give directions to the law-officers of the crown in Ireland, to institute criminal proceedings against the persons concerned in the cruelties detailed in the report of the commissioners, so far as they may be amenable to law," This motion was agreed to nem. con.

DEBATES ON ALLEGED ABUSES IN CHANCERY.

A commission of inquiry had been appointed last session to inquire into the abuses which were said to exist in the court of chancery. The report of this commission had not yet been made, but nevertheless the subject was again mooted in the commons. Two discussions on it took place in the present parliament. The first of these was introduced on the 31st of May, by Mr. J. Williams, on the occasion of presenting some petitions complaining of particular proceedings in chancery. The speech which Mr. Williams made was an attack not merely upon the court of chancery, but upon the whole law of England. He particularly animadverted upon the law of real property, upon which, notwithstanding, he declared himself ignorant; and the most important part of his speech went to prove, that courts of common law should cease to be so, and that the equitable and legal jurisdiction should be confounded. The subject was brought under discussion again on the 7th of June, by Sir Francis Burdett, who moved that the evidence taken by the commission instituted to investigate the practice of the court of chancery be printed. Mr. Peel opposed this motion, because to print such evidence, without any accompanying report, was contrary to the practice of the house; and that if it were printed, the session was too far advanced to take the subject into consideration. These attacks were chiefly made against Lord Eldon; and in the course of the discussion, Sir W. Ridley made a remark to which his own party, from whom those attacks came, would have done well to attend. "He wished," he said, "as much as any man to see the system altered, but he must object to the mode in which an individual was attacked night after night. He was persuaded such attacks did no good; for Lord Eldon stood very high in the estimation of the people of England." Mr. Brougham, however, did not profit by this advice; for he broke forth into an uncalled-for and indelicate attack upon Lord Gifford, who had been distinguished by the patronage of the chancellor, and was then deputy-speaker of the house of lords. The motion was rejected by a majority of one hundred and fifty-four against seventy-three. A remarkable circumstance in all the debates which took place on the court of chancery was, that none of its assailants ventured beyond general declaration. No part of the system in which the alleged evil lay was specified, and no remedy was propounded. All that these discussions could lead to, therefore, was to render the court of chancery the subject of popular odium, and to lower the general administration of justice in the public estimation.

REGULATION OF THE SALARIES OF THE JUDGES.

During this, session the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward a measure for augmenting the salaries of the judges, and at the same time for prohibiting the sale of those ministerial offices which the chiefs of the respective courts had been allowed so to dispose of. It was proposed at first to allow the puisne judges £6,000 a year; but the scheme ultimately adopted was to give £10,000 a year to the chief-justice of the king's bench; £7,000 to the chief-baron of the court of exchequer; £8,000 to the chief-justice of the court of common pleas, and £5,500 to each of the puisne justices of the courts of king's bench, common pleas, and the exchequer. This arrangement met with considerable opposition, some of the members as Messrs. Hume, Denman, and Hobhouse, arguing that the dignity of a judge did not depend upon money, and that the cheapest mode of doing the judicial business of the country was the best. On the contrary, Mr. Scarlett argued that the arrangement was improper because it diminished the emoluments of the lord chief-justice of England; and he moved an amendment, which was lost, that the sum of £12,000; should be given to him. Mr. Brougham, in a different spirit, proposed that £500 a-year should be taken from the salary of the puisne judges, but that alteration was also rejected.

REJECTION OF THE UNITARIAN MARRIAGE ACT, ETC.

The Unitarian marriage act was this year again rejected, although supported in the lords by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Lichfield, and Lord Liverpool. The same fate was awarded Mr. Serjeant Onslow's bill for the repeal of the usury laws, though Mr. C. Wynne stated that not only himself, but the chancellor of the exchequer, and most of the cabinet ministers, were favourable to their abolition. Ministers had left the house when the subject was discussed, anticipating that the division on the bill would not take place till a late hour, and that their presence was not necessary for its success. While they were absent the bill was rejected by a majority of forty-five against forty. This decision was owing partly to the arguments of the solicitor-general against the measure. Borrowers, he said, might be divided into three classes: mercantile borrowers, landed borrowers, and persons who might be considered general borrowers; they not belonging to either of the above classes. Mercantile borrowers, he continued, generally obtained a loan to profit by it. They did not borrow from necessity, but to trade; and if they could make ten or twelve per cent, on the borrowed money, there was no reason why they should not pay the lender seven or eight per cent. But was there, he asked, any landed proprietor so ignorant, as not to see, that, if the monied man could lend to the trade, at a higher rate than five per cent., he would not lend to him at that sum. It was one advantage to the lender, that he could recall his capital at pleasure, or get it back at a short notice. Now when a man lent capital to a trader, he was generally enabled to command the use of it when he pleased; but if he lent his money on land he could not do this: there was all the trouble and inconvenience of a mortgage; he could not recall it for two or three years; and therefore in proportion as he could not command the use of his capital when he lent it to the landowner, he would make him pay a higher rate of interest for it than the trader. He believed he was not wrong when he stated that eight out of every ten estates in the kingdom were loaded with debt. Now under what circumstances did the country gentlemen borrow money? Was it to employ it at some seasonable crisis, when by prudence and dexterity he might obtain vast profit? No. The benefits which he could receive as its produce were fixed: he never could obtain from a borrowed sum beyond a determined amount. Could any one say, therefore, that the repeal of the usury laws would be beneficial to the latter class? But if the terms of borrowing were so unfavourable to the landed class, what expectation could the general borrower entertain of being able to obtain a loan under any other than oppressive terms? These persons generally stood in need of only small sums; their necessities were pressing, and therefore they were exposed to the most grinding demands. They could have no choice but to submit to the terms imposed upon them, be they never so oppressive.

ACT AGAINST COMBINATIONS AMONG WORKMEN.

In a former session, Mr Hume had obtained the passing of an act repealing both the statute and common law concerning combinations among workmen. This act was attended with mischievous effects; and therefore, during this session, Mr. Huskisson called the attention of the house to the subject. In his speech he detailed some painful reports regarding it which had been forwarded to the secretary of the home department: reports which went to show that the most atrocious acts of outrage and violence had been committed by workmen on their employers. Misconceiving the real object of the legislature in the late act, they had, he said, manifested a disposition against the masters, and a tendency to proceedings destructive of the property and business of the latter. This disposition, if it remained unchecked, he asserted, would produce the greatest mischiefs in the country; and the evil was growing to so alarming a pitch in some districts that if not speedily arrested, it would soon become a subject for Mr. Peel to deal with in the exercise of his official functions. As a general principle, he admitted that every man had a right to carry his own labour to the best market, as labour was the poor man's capital. On the other hand, he contended for the perfect freedom of those who gave employment to them; whose property, machinery, and capital ought to be protected. Mr. Huskisson entered into details to show the nature of the system which was acted upon in several quarters. Associations were formed, he said, which, if persevered in and prosecuted successfully, must terminate in the ruin of the very men who were parties to them. The associations had their delegates, their presidents, their committees of management, and every other sort of functionary comprised in the plan of a government. By one article in a set of regulations it was provided, he remarked, "that the delegates from all the different works should assemble at one and the same place," on certain occasions; so that it was not the combination of all the workmen of one employer against him, or even of one whole trade against the masters, but systematic union of the workmen of many different trades, and a delegation from each of them to one central meeting. Thus there was established as against the employers a formal system of delegation, a kind of federal republic, all the trades being represented by delegates, who formed a sort of congress. Another regulation which Mr. Huskisson noticed was to this effect:—"Each delegate shall be paid out of his own work with, these exceptions only—the president, the secretary, and the treasurer are to be paid out of the general funds." The delegates are elected for six months, and may be re-elected. Here he remarked was a tax levied upon each workman for the maintenance of general funds applicable to purposes of a most mischievous character. Other articles declared that it was the duty of the delegates to point out the masters disliked, and to warn such masters of the danger in which they were placed in consequence of this combination. Here, Mr. Huskisson rightly observed, was an acknowledgment of the dangerous nature of these associations. But, he asked, what followed? Why another duty of the delegates was to try everything which prudence might dictate to put the disliked masters out of the trade: not everything which fairness and justice might dictate to workmen who sought to to obtain a redress of grievances, but everything which "prudence" might dictate. In such a position, "prudence" must be understood as implying that degree of precaution that might prevent the "Union" from being brought within a breach of the law, such as the crime of murder. Was it, he asked, fit, right, or reasonable that persons engaged in commercial or other pursuits should, by combinations thus organized, be kept in constant anxiety and terror about their interest and their property. After noticing other regulations of this class of associations, Mr. Huskisson went on to show that others were governed by regulations, if possible, more extraordinary. One of these regulations was, that no man coming into any given district or county within the control assumed by the associating parties, should be allowed to work without previously paying five pounds sterling, to be applied to the funds of the association. In a similar spirit, another regulation set forth, that any child being permitted to assist, should at ten years old be reckoned a quarter of a man, and pay a proportionate sum accordingly. It was also provided that any man being called in by any collier to his assistance should not be at liberty to work, unless previously adopted, like the collier, by the society, and unless, like him, he should previously pay his five pounds. Mr. Huskisson rightly asked whether this amercement of five pounds, and this subscription of one shilling a week to the funds of the association, which every member was called upon to pay and contribute, would not produce to each of the parties, if placed in a saving-bank, far more beneficial and advantageous results? and whether there were not, among these combinations, men anxious for the enjoyment of the power and distinction which they considered the attainment of certain posts would confer upon them? With reference to Mr. Hume's act, he declared that when he looked at the way in which it was worded, and the artful misconstruction that might be put upon it by those who best knew how to mislead and deceive the men who had engaged in these combinations, he was not surprised that the associators should consider themselves to be warranted in their proceedings under that act. It repealed all former statutes, and then enacted that no proceedings at common law should be had by reason of any combinations or conspiracies of workmen formerly punishable under those repealed statutes. Without imputing to the framers of the bill the slightest idea that any misapprehensions could be entertained of its enactments, he did not doubt that a great portion of the associated and combined workmen in the country did actually believe, that so far from violating the law, its second section proved that they were only pursuing a course strictly conformable to the legislature. It declared that "journeymen, workmen, and other persons who shall hereafter enter into any combination to obtain higher rates of wages, &c, or to regulate the mode of carrying on any manufacture, trade, or business, or the management thereof, shall not be subject or liable to any indictment or prosecution for a criminal conspiracy or combination, or to any other proceeding or punishment whatever, or under the common statute law." "Would not," Mr. Huskisson asked, "any person, on reading this sentence, suppose it was something fit and commendable for workmen to conspire together to regulate and control the management of any manufacture?" In conclusion, he said, that under this act, the plotting together for the destruction of machinery, and even threatening life or property were no longer any criminal offence; and that he considered the existing law was not adequate to put down an evil which was increasing to a formidable extent: not the evil of committing the offences to which the act adverted, but the evil of workmen being permitted to plot, and the bold, open avowal of carrying such permission into effect. He moved for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the effects of this act, and to report their opinion how far it might be necessary to repeal or amend it. This motion was agreed to, and the committee, after a laborious investigation, made a report, in which they recommended the repeal of Mr. Hume's bill; the effect of which would be to restore the operation of those laws which were suspended by the second and third clauses of that act. But while recommending that the common law should be restored, the committee expressed an opinion that an exception should be made to its operation in favour of meetings and consultations amongst either masters or workmen, the object of which was peaceably to consult upon the rate of wages to be either given or, received, and to agree to co-operate with each other in endeavouring to raise it or lower it, or to settle the hours of labour; an exception which, while it gave to those in the different classes of masters and workmen ample means of maintaining their respective interests, would not afford any support to the assumption of power or dictation in either party to the prejudice of the other. But in recommending that liberty of associating and co-operating together, so far as wages or labour were concerned, should be preserved alike to masters and workmen, the committee deemed it requisite to propose that the resolution of any such association should be allowed to bind only parties actually present on personally consenting; all combination beyond this should be at the risk of the parties, and open to the animadversion of the common law, and should be dealt with according to the circumstances of each case. The committee further proposed that every precaution should be taken to ensure a safe and free option to those who were not inclined to take part in such associations. The language of the report on this subject is emphatic. "The most effectual security," it says, "should be taken that legislative enactment can afford, that, in becoming parties to any association, or subject to their authority, individuals should be left to act under the impulse of their own free will alone; and that those who wish to abstain from them, should be enabled to do so, and continue their service, or engage their industry, on whatever terms, or with whatever master, they may choose, in perfect security against molestation, insult, or personal clanger of what kind soever." The punishment of offences of the nature alluded to recommended by the committee, was, in case of conviction, six months' imprisonment, with or without hard labour, according to the circumstances of the case. A bill founded on this report was brought into the commons, and after considerable discussion, was passed into a law. In the committee several of its clauses were resisted, and especially that which made it penal to induce any man to leave his work by threat, or intimidation, or by molesting, or in any way obstructing him. This was said by Mr. Hume to be too vague, as what one man might consider an obstruction, another might not; and by Mr. Mansfield, as being deprecated by the workmen. In reply, Mr. Huskisson said, that he had no intention of acting harshly towards the operative mechanics: the object of the bill was to protect the weak against the strong; to afford to the man who chose to give his labour for a certain value that protection against the combination of large bodies to which every man was entitled. Upon a division the clause objected to was carried by a large majority; the members rightly conceiving that man is free to act upon his own responsibility, and that he should not suffer from the control of others. If a man chooses to give his labour for a certain rate of wages he should be at liberty to do so without intimidation or molestation. And he is the more entitled to act thus independently of his fellow-workmen's interference, because no man will throw away his labour. Self-interest is, in fact, the best protection from oppression. A skilful mechanic with a good character can always obtain the true value of his labour without the aid of his fellow-operatives. He can act as a man; can ask, and obtain his just wages.

FREE-TRADE SYSTEM.

Many petitions had been presented in the course of this session for and against the existing system of the corn-laws. On the 25th of April Mr. Whitmore was induced to move for a committee of the whole house to consider of these laws; but his motion was rejected. Previous to this, however, Mr. Huskisson, in pursuance of the scheme of commercial policy which he had adopted, brought forward three important subjects: first, "The system of our commercial policy in respect to our colonies;" secondly, "The expediency of revising many of the duties payable upon the import of the raw materials used in our manufactures, and of relaxing the prohibitory duties which, under the name of 'protection,' were enforced against the manufactured productions of other countries;" and, thirdly, "The means of affording some further degree of relief and assistance to the interests of our shipping and navigation." The alterations he proposed in our colonial system were explained by him on the 23rd of March, when, by entering into historical details at great length, he proved to demonstration that all those articles of manufacture which had been most fostered had most languished; that excessive duties made the smuggler's fortune, while the manufacturer was disappointed, and the exchequer defrauded; that the apprehension which guarded our fabrics with high duties was unfounded; and that the true policy of the state, as well as the advantage of individuals, would be consulted by the reduction of duties sufficiently to countervail whatever might be imposed upon the raw material used in the different manufactures. Having shown the ungrateful return made by the United States of America, which had been allowed to trade with our colonies, he proposed to open their ports to all friendly powers on the same principle, though with some modifications, as that on which they now traded with Jersey or Ireland. With the further view of encouraging our own trade and that of our colonies with the countries of South America, he proposed to extend to certain ports in those colonies the benefits and regulations of our warehousing system as it was established in this country, by allowing goods from all parts of the world to be bonded and deposited in warehouses without payment of duty till proper opportunities of selling or exporting them should occur. Another boon proposed by him to our colonies and trade was, the abolition of the large fees which were levied for the benefit of public officers in almost all our colonial ports. He further proposed two alterations of a local and specific nature; the one relating to the Mauritius, and the other to Canada. That relating to the Mauritius lowered the duty on sugar to the same rate as that from the West Indies, and that relating to Canada admitted the importation of corn from thence on a fixed and permanent duty. The resolutions embodying Mr. Huskisson's views were adopted nem. con., and were afterwards, with one trifling exception, carried into effect. That exception was, that the bill for establishing the free intercourse in the article of corn, subject to the duty of five shillings per quarter, between Canada and this country, should not be permanent, but limited in its operation to a period of two years.

The other part of Mr. Huskisson's scheme for promoting commerce was brought forward on the 25th of March. These parts referred to protection rather than revenue, and to the affording relief to the shipping and navigation interests. He began by proposing a reduction of duties on the cotton and woollen trade, as well as those on manufactured linen. In some cases these rose as high as one hundred and eighty per cent.; and Mr. Huskisson proposed to lower them to ten, fifteen, and twenty-five per cent, respectively. He next adverted to foreign paper, books, and glass, which were almost prohibited by excessive duties. He proposed a duty upon all books, bound and unbound, imported into this country, of sixpence per pound; on paper threepence per pound; and upon glass bottles three shillings per dozen. He next proceeded to the duties on metallic substances, as iron, copper, zinc, and lead. The duty on foreign iron was to be reduced from £6. 10s. to £1. 10s. per ton; that on copper from £54 to £27 a ton; that on zinc from £28 to £14 a ton; and that on lead from £20 to £15 per cent. ad valorem. Upon tin he proposed to reduce the duty from £5. 9s. 3d. to £2. 10s. the cwt. Mr. Huskisson next proceeded to consider how far it was possible to reduce certain imposts on raw materials which interfered with the success of the capitalist, who was obliged to use them in his manufactures. He instanced the cases of articles used in dyeing, as well as olive and rape-oil. He wished to take off the duty from the latter altogether, and thereby enable the manufacturer to supply the farmer with cake instead of compelling him to procure it at a large cost in the foreign market. He proposed also to reduce the duty on all foreign wool imported at a lower price than one shilling the pound to one halfpenny. He concluded with proposing measures to relieve the commerce and navigation of the country. There was already a bill on the table to do away with the quarantine duties, which the committee on foreign trade had proposed to lay on the community at large. Mr. Huskisson thought this proposition was equitable, as the amount of these duties was considerable; and they were placed on the shipping interest for the protection of the country. lie proposed further the abolition of all fees on commerce with our colonies, and the removal of the duty payable on the transfer of any share in a ship, or of a whole ship, from one person to another. There was still another mode by which he proposed to relieve the shipping interest. This consisted in a reduction of stamps for bonds, required from exporters of certain goods to be delivered at certain places, from forty shillings to four shillings. He also proposed to apply the same principle to Custom-house debentures, or documents given by way of security to those who were entitled to drawbacks. As conducive to the same end, he further proposed an alteration in the system of our consular establishments, granting instead of fees a regular salary to the officers who superintended them, retaining only certain fees, which were to be small, for acts which were extra consular. Though some members of the house expressed an apprehension that these changes might prove injurious, yet in general they were acceptable both to parliament and the country. The resolutions in which they were embodied were adopted unanimously; and they were afterwards carried into execution by bills framed in conformity with them.

SURRENDER, OF THE CHARTER OF THE LEVANT COMPANY.

Connected with the above changes was the surrender of the charter of the Levant Company. That company was established by royal charter in the reign of James the First, when considerable privileges were bestowed upon it. Thus they were allowed to appoint all the consuls in the seaports in the Levant; to levy duties on all English ships for the maintenance of their consuls; and to exercise a certain jurisdiction within the territories of the Ottoman Porte. These powers and trusts had been exercised by the servants of the company with general fidelity for two centuries; but, considering the state of the countries in which the company's consuls resided, in apolitical point of view, it was now deemed expedient that the public servants of this country in Turkey should hold their appointments from the crown. A meeting of the company was called in consequence of a communication from the ministers; and Lord Grenville, the governor, having proposed the surrender of their charter, the company acceded to it; and an act of parliament was subsequently passed for carrying that surrender into effect.

REPORT OF TREATIES.

During the month of May the secretary for foreign affairs laid three papers on the table of the house of commons, which were of considerable importance. The first of these papers was a treaty of commerce with the independent states of Rio de la Plata; the second, a treaty concluded with Russia, settling the disputed claims which had existed between the two countries with regard to territories on the north-west coast of America, and to certain rights of trade and navigation in the Pacific Ocean; and the third was a treaty between Great Britain and Sweden, having for its object the abolition of the slave-trade, as carried on under the flag of either nation. The effectual measure of visitation and detention was, with a manly policy, adopted by both powers; so that the cruisers of either under certain limitations, were permitted to stop, and bring in for adjudication, slave-vessels trading under their respective colours.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

On the 28th of February the chancellor of the exchequer gave an exposition of the financial situation of the country, and of the pecuniary arrangements for the year. From his statement it appeared that, notwithstanding the reductions made in taxation during the last session, the finances continued to improve. There was a surplus, he said, of £1,437,774; and he proceeded to show that the receipts of the customs, though about one million pounds sterling had been taken off some of the articles it comprised, had been equal to those of former years. He asked:—"What are the causes which have produced this result? The proximate cause, doubtless, is the increased capacity of the people of this country to consume the produce of other countries, aided and invigorated by the reciprocal facility which our consumption of foreign articles gives to other nations in the extended use of the products of our own industry. That increase may arise in some degree from the demonstrated tendency of population to increase; but, independently of that cause, there is a principle in the constitution of social man, which leads nations to open their arms to each other, and to establish new and closer connexions by ministering to mutual convenience; a principle which creates new wants, stimulates new desires, seeks for new enjoyments, and, by the beneficence of Providence, contributes to the general happiness of mankind." The chancellor of the exchequer next stated that the produce of the excise and of stamps had been greater than had been anticipated by government; and then proceeded to make his calculations for the present year. He calculated the produce of everything at £56,445,370; and that the expenditure would be £56,001,842, including £5,486,654 for the sinking-fund. This would leave a clear surplus of £443,528. He argued from this, that a surplus of £864,676 might be expected for 1826; and of £1,254,676 for 1827. This, together with the surplus of 1824, namely £1,437,744, would make a total of £4,000,624; and in applying this surplus to the diminution of the public burden, the chancellor of the exchequer explained that he had three objects in View: increased facility of consumption at home, in conjunction with increased extension of foreign commerce; the restriction of smuggling; and some alleviation of the pressure of direct taxation. To accomplish these objects, he proposed to lower the taxes on various articles to the amount of £1,526,000. This relief was in general judiciously applied: the imposts reduced were on hemp, coffee, wines, British spirits and rum, cider, and those articles in the assessed taxes, as husbandry-horses let to hire, taxed carts, etc., which pressed particularly on the lower classes of society. Of this it was calculated that there would be lost during the present year about £600,000, so that the total surplus of this and the two ensuing years, estimated at more than £4,000,000, would be sufficient to meet the diminution. Some parties were dissatisfied because there was not a greater diminution of direct taxation; others, because greater relief was not given to the West Indian interests; and others, because the duties on tobacco were not lowered. On the whole, however, Mr. Robinson's financial statements were satisfactory to the public at large. The estimates for the year were voted with little opposition.

PROPOSALS FOR THE ABOLITION OF CERTAIN TAXES, ETC.

During this session Mr. Maberly moved for the repeal of the assessed taxes, which was lost by a great majority. On the 5th of May, also, a resolution, proposed by the same member, respecting the duties on beer was negatived. The same fate awaited a motion made by Mr. Hobhouse, for the repeal of the window-tax; and likewise a motion for the repeal of the duties on soap and candles. A more than ordinary share of the time of the members was occupied this year in the consideration of private bills. So great was the passion for joint-stock companies, and so abundant the capital ready to seek employment in schemes of local improvement, &c, that four hundred and thirty-eight petitions for private bills were presented, and two hundred and eight-six private acts were passed.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on the 6th of July by commission. The speech announced that foreign powers were amicably disposed; regretted the continuance of the war in the East Indies; and expressed satisfaction at the measures adopted by parliament for the extension of commerce. "These measures," said the speech, "his majesty is persuaded, will evince to his subjects in those distant possessions the solicitude with which parliament watches over their welfare. They tend to cement and consolidate the interests of the colonies with those of the mother country; and his majesty confidently trusts that they will contribute to promote that general and increasing prosperity on which his majesty had the happiness of congratulating you on the opening of the present session, and which, by the blessing of Providence, continues to pervade every part of the kingdom."

GREAT COMMERCIAL PANIC.

The golden prospects unfolded in the speech of the chancellor of the exchequer when making his financial statements, and reiterated in that of his majesty at the close of the session, soon vanished away. The causes of this reverse were manifold. The abundance of capital, and the consequent low rate of profit, during the last three years, had greatly increased export manufactures. As the system of country banks continued in operation, this apparent prosperity of manufactures attracted much capital to them; and a system of credit was generated which caused a still further extension. Speculation added its impulse to this system; until, in the course of this year, paper money thrown into circulation, increased the currency beyond what the causes determining the supply of gold could sustain. The exchanges now turned against us; the currency became depreciated; and gold, the sinews of a nation's prosperity, began to flow out of the country. The Bank of England finding that the demand for gold diminished its stock of coin, contracted its issue of notes and its discounts. In this way, if the state of trade had been good, the currency might have been reduced so as to restore the exchanges to par; but the reduction in quantity took place first among those who had pushed their credit to the utmost; and these persons being unable to meet their engagements became bankrupts. The distress soon reached the bankers themselves. Some of the country banks stopped payment; and apprehensions springing up from thence with respect to the stability of the London banks, caused such a run upon them, that many failed. In the month of December all the usual channels of credit were stopped, and the circulation of the country completely deranged. In this state of affairs several cabinet deliberations took place; and it was at length determined that one and two pound bank notes should be issued for country circulation. This measure was carried into effect on the 16th of December; and an order was also issued to the officers of the Mint to expedite an extraordinary coinage of sovereigns. For one week one hundred and fifty thousand were coined daily. In the meantime meetings were held in London and the great trading towns, in which resolutions were adopted for the support of commercial credit and these had the effect of restoring mutual confidence to a considerable extent. Such was the contrast between the commencement and the close of the present year: it began in visions of prosperity, it closed with a certainty of adversity. The derangement of commercial affairs doubtless arose from the dangerous mania of speculation, aided by a vicious system of making paper money, which increased the currency, drove gold out of the country, and then caused a demand for it in exchange for paper, which it was impossible to meet. The natural consequence was an almost general breaking up of those who depended on paper money, and an approach to its utter annihilation.

THE BURMESE WAR.

GEORGE IV. 1825—1826.

During this year the hostilities against the Burmese were prosecuted actively and successfully, but yet without producing any decisive result. After the successes gained by Sir Archibald Campbell, towards the end of the previous year, he remained unmolested at Rangoon; and the only military operations in that quarter in the month of January were some unimportant skirmishes. During that month it was discovered that the Burmese generalissimo had stationed himself at Donoobew, about fifty miles up the river, where, having drawn to his army all the resources of the Pegu vice-royalty, he prepared himself to sustain an attack. It was now determined by Sir Archibald Campbell, though his invading force was small, and his Siamese allies reluctant to join him, to advance into the interior of the empire. He joined the camp on the 13th of February at Mienza, passing through forests lined with formidable stockades, a deserted country, and destroyed villages. On the 26th he arrived at Soomza, of which the governor of the place gave him possession by retiring from his post. In the meantime, Donoobew had been attacked by a division of the British force which had proceeded thither by water, under Brigadier-general Cotton. The outworks of Donoobew were carried, but the main-work was too strong to risk a further advance, and the troops were withdrawn for a time. By the 18th of March General Campbell crossed the Irrawaddy to the west bank in some of the country canoes, and on the 25th reached Donoobew. He pitched his camp before the extensive works of Maha Bandoola on the 2nd of April. During that morning the enemy kept up a heavy fire on our ranks; but towards noon it ceased. A calm succeeded; but it was the harbinger of a storm. About ten o'clock, when the moon was fast verging towards the horizon, a sharp sound of musketry mingled with war-cries roused the sleeping camp. The soldiers seized their muskets and formed into a line; and this was scarcely effected, when the opposing columns advanced with an intention of turning our right, and at the same time keeping up a distant fire against the left and centre. On their outflanking the right, our two extreme regiments changed front, and by a constant discharge of musketry checked every attempt, so that the assailants were compelled to retreat. A series of various petty actions now took place by river as well as by land; but in the meantime preparations were being made for the attack of the enemy's works. The mortar-batteries and rockets began their work of destruction on the 1st of April, and on the following day the breaching batteries opened, when two Lascars, who had been left prisoners in the fort, came out to inform Sir Archibald Campbell that Bandoola had been killed the day before by a rocket, and that the garrison, in spite of the remonstrances of the other chiefs, had fled. This information was quite correct; for the enemy had retired, leaving behind them all their guns and a large depot of grain. In this service the British commander was ably seconded by the navy under Captains Alexander and Chads, who assisted in forcing the stockades, capturing the formidable war-boats, and conveying our troops to the best places of attack. After the dispersion of Bandoola's army, Prome was considered the best place to stop the invading troops, and the utmost energies of the local authorities were employed in fortifying that place and organizing a force for its defence. All the disposable force of the empire was, in fact, concentrated at this spot: a spot memorable for the many battles fought there with the people of Pegu. But all the Burmese preparations were wholly disconcerted by the rapid movement of our army: Sir Archibald Campbell entered Prome on the 25th of April without firing a shot. Before they withdrew, the enemy had set fire to a part of the town, and one quarter of it was reduced to ashes. In their flight, also, the Burmese troops burned and laid waste all the villages in their route, driving thousands of helpless people to the woods. This now became their mode of warfare; and it has been said that Russia in her memorable resistance to the French armies did not offer to the invading hosts such a scene of desolation as did the Burmese empire to the British troops. Neither man nor beast escaped the retiring columns; and heaps of ashes, with groups of howling dogs, alone indicated the spots where villages and towns had stood. While these movements occurred, a series of actions had put the British in possession of the kingdom of Arracan, and the Burmese were totally expelled from Cachar and Assam. Thus terminated the second campaign of this desolating war. The British army took up its winter-quarters at Prome, where cantonments were provided for the troops, and preparations made for future operations. Nor was the Burmese monarch idle; rejecting all overtures made by the British general, troops were levied in every part of the kingdom, and the tributary Shan tribes bordering on China were called on to furnish their contingent force. Before the end of September a disposable force of 70,000 men was ready to act against the British, who threatened to advance on the capital. At the close of the year an armistice was agreed upon, and negociations were entered into for a definitive treaty of peace; but as there was no honesty on the side of the Burmese, and no lack of penetration on that of the British, all proposals failed.

REVIEW OF FOREIGN RELATIONS.

Among the events of this year that which seemed pregnant with the most important consequences to Europe, was the death of the Emperor Alexander of Russia. This appeared capable of putting not only the tranquillity of the empire in jeopardy, but of changing the whole course of its foreign policy. This event however, was not felt beyond the limits of Russia; the grand duke Nicolas succeeded to the throne, and professed a determination to pursue that course of policy which had been adopted by his predecessor. France was this year occupied in the coronation of its monarch, whom the people was soon again to repudiate. Sweden, Denmark, and Germany remained without much alteration of circumstances; but Spain was not only in the possession of foreign troops, but was distracted by the miseries of factions, revolts, and changes of administration. In Portugal, the king was induced, chiefly through British influence, to recognise the independence of Brazil, the sovereignty of which was ceded to his eldest son, Don Pedro. The interior state of Brazil, however, was much disturbed by the tyrannical, conduct of its new emperor, and war was also commenced between Brazil and Buenos Ayres. In Italy and Austria all were tranquil; but the relations between Turkey and Russia still continued to be in a very critical state, though no hostilities were commenced on either side. Greece was torn by internal dissensions, and assailed by barbarian foes, who reduced Navarino, and invested Missolonghi. In the United States, Mr. John Quincy Adams was chosen president; and in South America the various republics were proceeding to consolidate their power, though Chili was much disturbed, and Paraguay had fallen under the tyranny of D Francia. The independence of the united provinces of Rio de la Plata was formally recognised by Great Britain, and a treaty of commerce and friendship was concluded between the two powers. A treaty of amity and commerce was also concluded with the congress of Columbia, and with the new sovereign of Brazil.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

GEORGE IV. 1826—1827


     Meeting of Parliament..... Measures proposed for relieving
     commercial Distress..... Bill to enable private Banks to
     have an unlimited Number of Partners, &c..... Appointment of
     a Committee on Emigration..... Modification of the Corn-
     Laws..... Debates on Free trade..... Financial
     Statements..... Bill to prevent   Bribery at Elections.....
     Parliamentary Reform..... Alteration of the criminal
     Code..... Case of Mr. Kenriek..... State of the Colonies.....
     Motion for amending the Representation of Edinburgh,
     &c...... Resolution for the Regulation of private
     Committees..... Motion to disjoin the Presidency of the
     Board of Trade from the Treasurership of the Navy......
     Motion to hold Parliament occasionally in Dublin and
     Edinburgh..... Restoration of forfeited Scotch Peerages.....
     Catholic Emancipation, &c..... India Jury Bill, &e......
     Naturalization Act, &c...... Prorogation and Dissolution  of
     Parliament..... General Election..... The  Burmese War.....
     Meeting of the New Parliament..... Motion for a select
     Committee on Joint Stock Companies, &c..... King's Message
     respecting the Conduct of Spain, &e...... Resolutions
     against Bribery at Elections.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

A.D. 1826

Parliament reassembled on the 2nd of February, when the speech was again delivered by commission. Its principal topic was the depression of manufactures and commerce which still existed. The commissioners remarked:—"We are commanded by his majesty to inform you that his majesty has seen with regret the embarrassment which has occurred in the pecuniary transactions of the country since the close of the last session of parliament. This embarrassment did not arise from any political events, either at home or abroad. It was not produced by any unexpected demand upon the public resources, nor by the apprehension of any interruption to the general tranquillity. Some of the causes to which this evil must be attributed lie without the reach of direct parliamentary interposition; nor can security against the recurrence of them be found, unless in the experience of the sufferings which they have occasioned. But to a certain portion of this evil, correctives, at least, if not actual remedies, may be applied; and his majesty relies upon your wisdom to devise such measures as may tend to protect both private and public interests against the like sudden and violent fluctuations, by placing on a more firm foundation the currency and circulating credit of the country." The commissioners further stated that they had his majesty's commands to lay before parliament copies of conventions, founded on the acts relative to trade and commerce passed last session, which had been concluded with France, and the Hanseatic towns of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg. They concluded by stating that his majesty's attention had been directed to certain measures recommended in the last session of parliament for the improvement of Ireland, and that his majesty had the satisfaction of acquainting the peers and members assembled, that the industry of that part of the United Kingdom was in the course of a gradual and general advancement; an advancement mainly attributable to the tranquillity which now prevailed in that country. The addresses in both houses passed without any serious opposition, although much discussion took place on every topic on which the speech touched, and on some to which it made no allusion. In the upper house Lord King, after ascribing the pecuniary embarrassments to over-issues of paper money by the Bank of England, attacked the corn-laws, and urged the necessity of a complete alteration in them. He moved an amendment to the address, pledging the house to revise the corn-laws in this session; but this proposal was resisted as too precipitate, and the amendment was negatived without a division. The principal object of Lord King, however, and of other peers who spoke on the occasion, was to elicit from the minister some general description of the measures alluded to in the speech, as likely to be proposed for the purpose of preventing future pecuniary embarrassments. Lord Liverpool, in gratifying them, attributed the embarrassments to the mad spirit of speculation which had existed for the last two years; a spirit doubly mischievous, because it had affected the issues of the country banks to such a degree that they had increased in a far higher proportion than those of the Bank of England. He showed that in the course of the last two years the issues of the country banks had increased from four to eight millions. The correctives government intended to apply were to prohibit the circulation, after a certain period, of notes under £2, whether issued by the Bank of England, or by any private banker; to increase the stability of private banks by enabling them to augment their capital; and to repeal that clause in the charter of the Bank of England which rendered it unlawful for any private banking establishment to consist of more than six partners. In the commons, on the occasion of the debate on the address, Mr. Brougham stated that he believed that the distress now existing proceeded from causes much more complicated than those to which the speech ascribed to it. He believed it to be universal; and he took occasion to combat the opinion of those who derived it from the late introduction of more liberal principles into a commercial policy. He remarked.—"If the embarrassment were confined to any one branch of our commerce, for instance, to the silk trade, then an argument might be raised, and, without any great violence to facts, the distress might be attributed to our new commercial policy. But when it is observed that not only silk, but wool, cotton, and linen are equally affected, it is in vain to deny that the nature of the facts rebut the assertion of any connexion between the present distress and the principles of free trade." The chancellor of the exchequer maintained that many of the difficulties arose beyond the control of government, although he allowed that some were within its reach, and that their influence might at least be modified. The principal of these, he said, were the great increase of the issues of the country banks, and the weak foundation on which many of these establishments stood in point of capital. Mr. Hume denied this hypothesis, and maintained that the true causes of the distress were to be found in the pressure of taxation, and the lavish expenditure of government. The whole empire, he said, presented one scene of extravagant misrule, from the gold lace and absurd paraphernalia of military decoration of the guards up to the mismanagement of the Burmese war: it was a farce, he added, to attribute the distress to the banking system. Other members defended the country banks from the imputations cast upon them; and Mr. Baring passed a high eulogy on the conduct of the directors of the Bank of England in this crisis. He remarked that it was impossible for any public body, for any set of men, to have acted with more honour, promptitude, or good sense, than the Bank evinced upon that emergency. Although it was not till the 10th that the propositions for proscribing the small notes and enlarging bank partnerships were formally brought forward, yet they were incidentally up to that period the subject of discussion. The views of different members on the subject, however, will be better seen in the debates which ensued when the measure was proposed.

MEASURES PROPOSED FOR RELIEVING COMMERCIAL DISTRESS.

On the 10th of February the whole house having resolved itself into a committee on the Bank charter bill, the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward the proposition for prohibiting the circulation of small notes. In doing so he said that though fluctuations were inseparable from trade, in defiance of any precautions which ingenuity could invent, yet their effects were often aggravated by a state of currency, and a facility of speculation like those produced by the existing issues of paper. The small notes especially carried the consequences of these changes among those on whom they pressed most severely. These notes were chiefly in the hands of the labouring classes, and a few of them constituted a poor man's fortune; consequently when a panic took place he hastened to save his little store by withdrawing it from the banker. As the alarm spread, the more wealthy imitated this example, and a sudden run brought with it the downfall of the bank. From this he argued that if these notes were replaced by a metallic currency, the security of the banks would be ensured, and the misfortunes which their failures would otherwise produce limited. This measure, he said, was not a novelty, but had been the regular policy of the country; for an act had been passed in 1775 prohibiting the tissue of bank-notes, and in 1777 another act had prohibited their issue under the sum of five pounds. The chancellor of the exchequer argued that any apprehensions of injury to commerce from the proposed measure must be founded upon this—that the prohibition of small notes would diminish the circulation by the amount of these notes; that their absence could not be supplied by gold; and, that, therefore, manufactures and trade would, to this extent, be left without their necessary and legitimate purposes. He went on to show that these apprehensions were visionary; that the withdrawal of the small notes, while it gave security to the bank which issued, and to the party who held them, would not operate injuriously on the currency, or on the trade and manufactures of the country. There were two ways, he said, of effecting this withdrawal: one by enacting that no small notes should be stamped after a certain period; the other by allowing those already in circulation to run a certain course till a fixed period, and prohibiting any new ones to be created. In three years the first of these modes might lead to unsatisfactory results; for if the power of stamping were to remain unlimited during that period, so considerable a number might be stamped as to subject the country, in its ultimate endeavours to get rid of them, to all its present evils. It was intended therefore to propose, that no new notes should be stamped, and that those in circulation should cease to circulate at the end of three years. In conclusion, the chancellor of the exchequer moved the following resolution:—"That it is the opinion of this committee, that all promissory notes payable to the bearer on demand, issued by licence, and under the value of five pounds, and stamped previous to the 5th of February, 1826, be allowed to circulate until February 5th, 1829, and no longer." Mr. Baring took the lead in opposition to the measure, objecting to it as being inadequate to meet the evils complained of, and ill-suited to the present state of the country. He could not agree, he said, in attributing the existing embarrassments either to speculation or over-trading: much of it had been owing to the conduct previously pursued by the Bank. The resolution was likewise opposed by Sir John Wrottesly, Alderman Thompson, Alderman Heygate, and Mr. Wilson, who were adverse to it on various grounds: that it would be wholly inoperative to give any effectual relief; that it would be positively mischievous; and that the present state of the country required the postponement of such a measure. The scheme of increasing the number of partners in a bank by way of security was treated by opposition as visionary, since it was not on numbers, but on prudence, and their mode of conducting business, that their credit depended. Sir J. Wrottesly maintained that the country bankers, instead of exciting the mad spirit of speculation, were the only persons who had not speculated; and, in reality, were obliged, from a regard to their own safety, to discourage such a practice on the part of their customers. He asked, where did this spirit of speculation commence? It first showed itself in Manchester and Liverpool, where no local notes circulated. The cotton speculations, in these two places were the first heard of, and yet in neither of them was a single note circulated. The next point at which this spirit was manifested, and at which it had led to its un-happiest results, was not in the country where the notes in question circulated, but on the stock-exchange of London. It was further urged by the opponents of the measure that the very essence of the present pecuniary embarrassments consisted in the curtailed state of the currency; and that the direct tendency of the proposed measure was to increase them by limiting it still more. Taking the currency at twenty millions, it was argued, and the deduction to be made on account, of the recent failures at three millions and a half, the effect of the scheme in contemplation would be to cause a still further deficiency, and reduce it to about ten millions, with which it was impossible to carry on the trade of the country. It was further argued that although a respite of three years was ostensibly granted to the small notes, yet the adoption of the resolution would be tantamount to driving them out of circulation at once, inasmuch as every banker who entertained a due regard for his credit would be compelled to take measures for withdrawing his notes as quickly as possible. They had been issued, it was said, in reliance on the stability of the system, and on the faith of acts of parliament, which ought to be as inviolate as the charter of the Bank; and if these sources were now called in, the course of industry in various channels must be stopped. How, it was asked, was the gap made in the circulation of the country to be filled up? At the termination of the war there existed a strong desire to return to a metallic currency; and during the first years of peace there was a great facility of obtaining specie; but it was not so at the present time. No country could obtain it without giving its value in commodities. At the end of the war, our manufactures, still in their prime, commanded every market, and enabled us to obtain our gold: but at present the manufactures of the continent and America were springing up all around us, and every year we were more and more excluded from foreign markets. The inability to dispose of our commodities was, in fact, it was stated, one of the most aggravated features of the existing distress. In such circumstances, therefore, it was urged, that it would be most unwise to adopt a measure, which besides injuring an individual class, would tend to increase public calamity. The resolution was supported by Messrs. Huskisson, Peel, and Canning, who denied that to ascribe much of the distress which had prevailed to the issues of the country banks, was to attack the character of the country bankers, or that anything had occurred to justify the extreme sensibility which had been manifested on their behalf. With regard to the measure itself, they stated it was not intended so much a remedy for existing evils, as a preventative against their future recurrence, by bringing the currency, to a certain extent, to be a metallic one, and especially that portion of it which alone supplied the wants of the lower classes. All experience, it was urged, proved that this restoration of a metallic currency could not be effected so long as small notes were allowed to be circulated; a permanent state of cash-payments could never exist by their side. It was argued, that if crown notes and half-crown notes were issued, crowns and half-crowns would disappear; and that if the one pound notes continued to circulate, sovereigns would become rarities. There never was a gold circulation in the country except in Lancashire, where no country notes existed; and when, in the year 1822 and 1823, the Bank of England was anxious to supply the country with gold, the sovereigns sent down by one mail-coach returned with the next. Great sacrifices had been made to effect the introduction of even the partial metallic currency now in existence; and these sacrifices had been made in vain: the currency of the country could never be placed, on a solid basis unless country bankers were prohibited from issuing notes, excepting such as were of a considerably higher denomination than the current coin, so as to save it from the paper currency. The principle of the measure therefore could be resisted only by those who held that the pecuniary relations of the country were best secured by proscribing a metallic currency. But its necessary effect would be to give solidity to the banks themselves, by compelling them to maintain a portion of their circulation in gold, instead of worthless paper; and thus, even where a failure took place, extensive misery, which such an occurrence produced among the lower classes, would no longer return. The security of the poorer classes in such cases lay in the absence of small paper. Let the Bank of England retain in its hands as much gold as might be necessary for the ordinary operations of commerce, for such demands as the exigencies of government might require, or to adjust an unfavourable state of foreign exchanges; let every country bank be governed by the same rules, and compelled to keep an amount of gold proportioned to its operations; and a sensitiveness to occurrences likely to cause a pressure on the country banks would be created, which would tend to the security of the whole kingdom; the issues would be kept within bounds, and gold would be kept in the kingdom. The expulsion of small notes, it was stated, could not operate injuriously to the country bankers. The number of country banks was about eight hundred, and the circulation of each of these would average about £8,000; could it be supposed that a stability which had stood the late shock would be shaken or destroyed by a gradual curtailment of paper, to the extent annually of two or three thousand pounds for three successive years? When the difficulty was thus reduced; when the means were so limited and humble by which a mighty principle was to be established; when, by an operation so minute, and a process almost insensible, the prodigious advantage could be obtained of placing the pecuniary concerns of the country on the broad and imperishable basis of a metallic currency; it would be as imprudent to let slip the opportunity as it would be unreasonable to deny the principle. The intended change was neither to affect the paper circulation at large, nor to trench upon the great mass of paper currency, which was confined to notes of the higher denominations: these might be piled mountains high, provided the base be refreshed by streams of the metallic currency. To those members who, without objecting to the principle of the measure, wished it to be postponed, it was answered, that instead of coming too soon it had come too late. Mr. Brougham, who also supported the resolution, strongly urged the inexpediency of delay when the work was already half done, in consequence of the general want of confidence having of itself greatly limited the issues of the country banks. Mr. Baring moved as an amendment, "That it is the opinion of this house that, in the present disturbed state of public and private credit, it is not expedient to enter into a consideration of the banking system of the country." This was negatived by an overwhelming majority; as was also an amendment moved by Mr. Gurney, to exclude the Bank of England from the operation of the resolution. A bill for carrying this resolution was immediately brought in by the chancellor of the exchequer; and, though much resistance was offered to some of its details, both in the commons and in the lords, the bill passed into a law. The Earl of Carnarvon, who moved, on the second reading in the lords, that the bill should be read that day six months, stated a new reason why an actual gold circulation ought to be kept as far from our doors as possible. A return of it, he said, would bring back the highwaymen of Bagshot and Hounslow heath.

There was a greater temptation to commit robbery in the case of gold than in the case of paper, because there were greater facilities for escaping detection. It was easy to understand that there could not be so strong an inducement to crime when the currency consisted in notes, numbered, and signed with a known name, as when it consisted of gold coin, which it was impossible to identify. Lord Liverpool, however, had no such fears of highwaymen as the noble earl. He once, when he was a boy, he said, lost all the money he had in his pockets by a highwayman; and it was natural that he should be as much alive to this danger as the noble earl. But still, with all his early associations, he could not help thinking that if danger must revive with a return to a metallic currency, it would have been felt during the last four or five years; for during all that time their lordships had been travelling about, not with notes, but with sovereigns in their pockets. The almost total extinction of highway robberies was to be attributed to the only thing that could check or extinguish them—the establishment of a powerful and effective police.

While this measure for annihilating the issue of small notes in England was making its way through parliament, the fitness of its application to Ireland and Scotland was discussed. In Scotland there was a great opposition even to the very idea of it. In every city and county public meetings were held to deprecate the destruction of the one pound and guinea notes, and men of all ranks and parties joined in one unanimous outcry against the threatened introduction of gold. During the discussion on the bill regarding England, indeed, the tables of both houses were loaded with petitions from Scotland, setting forth the benefits which that country so long had enjoyed from its banking system, and the evils which would arise from every attempt to give it a new and an untried form. Parliament rightly paid respect to the anxiety and unanimity with which these opinions were expressed, especially as they came from parties who were acquainted with the nature and practical effects of the system. Moreover, the difference between the two systems of the two countries, and the difference between the effects of the two systems, formed good reasons why parliament should pause before extending the plan to Scotland. Accordingly select committees were appointed by both houses to inquire into the state of the circulation of small notes in Scotland and Ireland, and to report upon the expediency of altering the laws regarding it. Many Scottish merchants, manufacturers, and bankers were examined by these committees; and the reports presented to both houses towards the end of the session justified the resistance made. The stability of the banking system in Scotland, the committee stated, did not justify any alteration; and they were apprehensive that a prohibition of small notes would injure one branch of the Scottish system which it was essential to preserve, namely, the giving of cash credits. Under these circumstances they recommended that the paper money of Scotland should not be meddled with. Sir M. W. Ridley, however, who, with others, was apprehensive that a metallic currency in England could not exist with a small paper circulation in Scotland, moved a resolution that the house would, in the course of next session, institute an inquiry as to how far the interests of England and Scotland were likely to be affected by the existence of different systems of currency in the two countries; and to ascertain whether any, or what means ought to be adopted to assimilate the currency in both. But this motion was negatived without a division; and thus Scotland was left for the present in possession of that system of currency under which her commerce, manufactures, and agriculture had so long flourished.

BILL TO ENABLE PRIVATE BANKS TO HAVE AN UNLIMITED NUMBER OF PARTNERS,

ETC.

The bill extinguishing small notes in England was followed by two other bills affecting the currency. The first of these bills was to permit the number of partners in each country bank to be unlimited; and the second, as a compensation to the Bank for conceding to this measure, extended its exclusive privileges to a circle round the metropolis, with a radius of sixty-five miles, and authorised the directors to establish branch banks in different parts of the country. While these measures were before parliament, in which they received general support, distress widely prevailed throughout the country. An idea was entertained that ministers would relieve this by the issue of exchequer-bills; but they had the prudence to abstain from any short-sighted and injurious palliatives. They expressed themselves willing, indeed, to keep the Bank harmless to the extent of two millions, if it should think proper to go into the market and purchase exchequer-bills; but they would not involve themselves in a system of artificial relief for a disease which they thought would cure itself better without their interference. Petitions were presented, praying the house to take commercial distress into its consideration; and government was charged by several members with being insensible to the misery which prevailed, and the danger which threatened; but nothing could move them to implicate themselves in transactions which might have involved them in pecuniary embarrassments. But relief was afforded in some degree by the Bank itself. Although the directors had refused to go into the market for the purchase of exchequer-bills, they came to a resolution of lending three millions on direct or collateral security. This measure was immediately carried into execution; and commissioners were appointed by the Bank in the principal provincial towns, in order to distribute the money. The whole of this sum, however, was not applied for; the very knowledge that such loans were attainable having a considerable effect in restoring confidence among the commercial classes. In some of the provincial towns the offices of the Bank commissioners, who were almost uniformly mercantile persons connected with the district where they were stationed, were almost unfrequented. The applications for advances, indeed, were made with great moderation; none were required beyond what the need of the applicant demanded. The adoption of this measure rendered it necessary for the security of the Bank to introduce a bill regarding the law of principal and agent. The Bank, indeed, in consenting to advance three millions, made it a condition of their compliance, that the protection of the statute should be extended to them immediately. Accordingly a bill was brought in and passed to enable persons in the possession of goods, and of the documents conferring the property of them, although such persons should be merely factors or agents, to pledge them with the Bank as effectually as if such persons were the owners. Such were the measures recommended by ministers, and adopted by parliament, to palliate the existing distress, and to provide security against some of the causes which had produced it. And they tended greatly to those ends. Commerce, feeling itself unshackled, soon repaired its losses and extended its operations; it found its way not only through European nations, where barriers had hitherto been raised against it, but penetrated the most barbarous regions of the earth.

APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE ON EMIGRATION.

During the last four years government had lent its aid to those who desired to emigrate to Canada. In the present year the general misery which prevailed increased the claims of emigration, as a means of relief, tenfold. In Scotland, even the landholders of a county applied to ministers to afford encouragement to intended emigrants; and among the artisans societies were formed for the purpose of projecting plans of emigration, and obtaining assistance both from the crown and from other sources. The subject was brought before parliament on the 14th of March, when Mr. Wilmot Horton moved for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the expediency of encouraging emigration. Government did not deny the importance of the question, or shut the door against its consideration: no opposition was made to the appointment of the committee; but nothing further occurred on this subject during the present session.

MODIFICATION OF THE CORN-LAWS.

On the first day of this session Lord King had moved an address, pledging the upper house to take the corn-laws into immediate consideration; and the tables of both houses were covered, almost nightly, with petitions, partly from the agriculturists, praying that the law might be allowed to remain as it was; but chiefly from artisans and manufacturers, praying for its instant repeal. Ministers did not deem it prudent to introduce the subject during this session, although they acknowledged its importance. The advocates of a repeal, however, embraced many opportunities in charging government with keeping back the settlement of this great question; and were at length determined to bring it again before parliament. On the 18th of April Mr. Whitmore moved, "That the house do now resolve itself into a committee, to consider the propriety of a revision of the corn-laws." He allowed that the time at which he submitted his motion was not unattended with inconvenience and the possibility of loss; but not only the expediency, but the absolute necessity of an immediate alteration appeared to him to be imperative. It wras mischievous, he said, to delay the decision of the question a single moment after government had applied the principles of free trade to other branches of industry; inasmuch as these principles could never be applied with due effect, nor have practical justice done them so long as the present corn-laws formed part of our commercial policy. Sir Francis Burdett supported the motion, not from any expectation that it would produce the anticipated effects expressed by the mover, but because the discussion would show, that the landowners, in supporting their own class and station, were advocating that which was essential to the general interests of the country, Mr. Huskisson, in reply, without entering into the merits of the question, deprecated its discussion at the present time. Ministers had announced that the subject would not be brought forward this session, and nothing had happened since to warrant this ill-timed motion. He had every reason to suppose that the subject would be brought forward in the next session, in which case he was most anxious to give it a serious and dispassionate consideration. The motion was lost by a large majority; but though the arrangement of the corn-laws still remained unsettled, it was found necessary, before the end of the session, to introduce two bills for modifying their strict operation. At the present time there was but little diminution of distress; and its continued pressure led to a series of disgraceful riots in Lancashire, where the vengeance of the mob was furiously directed against machinery, especially power-looms, under a notion that these were the great cause of the want of employment. The impression arose from ignorance; but that ignorance had been stimulated by a state of suffering which could not be overlooked. At this time, in the immediate neighbourhood of the scene of distress, in Hull, Liverpool, and other ports, there were between two and three thousand quarters of wheat in bond; and it was supposed that the admission of this into the market would diminish the extent of suffering, while it would have no material effect on the agricultural interests. Mr. Canning brought forward a proposition to allow bonded corn to come into the market, on payment of a duty of ten shillings per quarter, which was passed almost unanimously. Another measure of modification proposed by government, however, met with stern opposition. As it was impossible to foretell the result of the ensuing harvest, it was proposed, as a measure of precaution, to vest in government during the recess a power of permitting foreign grain to be imported on payment of a fixed duty. This was resisted as irregular and unconstitutional, both in the commons and in the upper house; but it was finally carried. Before it passed, however, the opposition was gratified by the limitation of the quantity of corn admissible to 500,000 quarters and the period to two months from the opening of the ports.

DEBATES ON FREE TRADE.

The legislature had begun to act on the principles of free trade in 1824, by taking off those restrictions which prohibited the importation of foreign silks. To the bill which permitted their admission with an ad valorem duty of thirty per cent., and which was now to come into operation, a large portion of both masters and workmen referred the depression of the trade, rather than to causes which did not come so readily within general comprehension. Many manufacturers limited their orders until the effect of this untried system should be somewhat known, while others joined in the outcry against it. The general impression among them was, that the "untried state of being" should not be tried; and many petitions were presented from the persons and districts interested in the silk manufacture, praying for a repeal, or at least a modification of the provision of 1824, for a total prohibition of foreign fabrics, or a higher duty upon their importation. On the 23rd of February, Mr. Ellice, member for Coventry, moved that the petitions which had been presented on this subject should be referred to a select committee. This motion led to a debate, which, by adjournment, continued two evenings. In this debate Mr. Huskisson was compelled to vindicate the leading part he had taken in the measure under consideration, in which he was ably supported by Mr. Canning. This motion was lost; but soon afterwards Mr. Huskisson was obliged to vindicate the late policy pursued respecting the shipping interest and navigation laws. This arose from the complaints of the shipowners and others connected with the shipping interests, who believed themselves to be affected by the late navigation laws. They complained especially of the system which had been adopted of removing discriminating duties, and allowing articles of merchandise to be imported in foreign vessels, under the same burthens as if they had been imported in British bottoms, on condition of reciprocity in regard to ourselves. They contended in numerous petitions to parliament that such a reciprocal removal of discriminating duties was ruinous to British shipping, because the British and foreign owner could never be put upon an equality, unless the latter were burthened with a higher duty. The petitioners and their adherents in parliament, repeated these complaints at every opportunity; but they did not venture to bring the question formally under the notice of the legislature. Mr. Huskisson, however, thought it expedient to show that their representations were groundless; and on the 12th of May, in moving for "returns of ships built in the British dominions, between 1824 and 1825, both inclusive, distinguishing the number in each year, and the amount of their tonnage," he entered into an elaborate defence of the late policy. Nothing could be clearer than his exposition of the principles on which the former system was founded, of the changes which had since occurred, and of the consequent necessity of our conformity to those altered circumstances. Having developed the general principles on which the navigation laws were originally founded, the different objects to which these principles had been applied, the modifications which from time to time had been made upon these objects, and the causes, political and commercial, which had rendered such changes necessary he stated, that all the allegations of mischief having ensued, and of an undue preference having been given to foreign over British shipping, in consequence of the late policy, were contradicted by the actual results. The complaint was, that in consequence of this policy a decrease had taken place in the employment of British shipping. Now in December, 1824, the number of British ships which entered our harbour was 19,104, and the tonnage 2,364,000, and the number of foreign ships, 5,280, the tonnage being 66,940. In 1825 the number of British ships entered was 21,980, and the tonnage, 2,768,844, and the number of foreign ships, in the same period, 5,661, the tonnage being 68,192. It was to be recollected, he said, that during this year there was an unusual demand for shipping, both British and foreign, in consequence of the unprecedented extent of speculation in almost every branch of commerce. On looking to these returns, therefore, it was clear that the amount of British shipping had increased in a far greater proportion than that of all foreign nations put together. Such being the case, we were certainly not in such a situation as was calculated to excite alarm with respect to the comparative growth of British and foreign shipping. Even if the latter had increased last year, it formed no ground for alarm, because it might be fairly attributed to the unusual demand for shipping produced by the prevailing spirit of speculation. The alarm felt upon this subject was in part grounded upon the state of our commerce in the Baltic, and the number of Prussian ships which entered our ports, as compared with British. Now in 1824, the British ships which entered from the Baltic was 440, and in 1825, 942. The number of Prussian ships which entered in 1824 was 682, and in 1825, 827. The number of Prussian ships, therefore, increased only by a fourth, while that of the British ships was more than doubled. Such was the comparative state of the shipping of both countries in the last year; and as Prussia seemed to be the main object of jealousy when there existed so little ground for it with respect to that nation, all apprehensions on this point might be dismissed. Mr. Huskisson's motion was agreed to; Sir W. Ridley expressing a hope that the subject would receive a full investigation in the next parliament. Later in the session, Mr. Huskisson brought in a bill to give effect to some commercial treaties which had been concluded between this country and Colombia, and the united provinces of the Rio de la Plata. It had been stipulated, as these republics were not in possession of any commercial marine of their own, that vessels, wheresoever built, being the property of any of the citizens of either republic, should be considered as national vessels of that republic: the master, and three fourths of the mariners of the vessel being always citizens of such republic. The design of Mr. Huskisson's bill was to give effect to these stipulations, and it was passed into a law.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

GEORGE IV. 1826—1827

The chancellor of the exchequer opened the budget on the 13th of March. In doing so he took a large review of the whole financial system, particularly of reductions which during several years had been made in taxation, and of the effect of these reductions in the productiveness of the revenue. His statements for the year partook of the favourable character which they had sustained for the last three years, although he admitted that he must make allowance for some loss in various branches of revenue, consequent on the present state of public embarrassment. After all the deductions, however, he reckoned the probable produce of the year before him at not less than £57,000,000, while he calculated on the whole expenditure at £56,328,421. This statement, holding out much happier prospects than, from the distress which prevailed in the country, could have been anticipated, was received by the house with general satisfaction. Mr. Maberly and Mr. Hume, however, maintained not only that there had been no reduction of the public debt, but that there had been an actual increase both in the capital, and in the annual charge, and that taxation had been raised instead of being diminished. They alleged that the capital of the debt had been increased by the enormous sum of £61,646,000 between 1819 and 1826, and that the annual charge had grown in proportion. This assertion, however, rested on an obvious fallacy, arising out of a total misapprehension of the nature of what is called the dead-weight scheme, and of the arrangements which, in pursuance of it, had been made with the Bank for discharging part of the half-pay and pension list. Mr. Hume's assertion, that taxation had increased during the last three years was still more erroneous; for the chancellor of the exchequer in his statements proved to demonstration, by actual figures, that from 1816 to 1825 taxes had been reduced to the large amount of £27,522,000, and that no new taxes had been imposed. Subsequently the state of the public debt underwent much discussion, the great questions being not whether it ought or might be reduced, but what was its actual amount, and whether, in point of fact, any diminution of it had been effected during late years. The amount of the army, navy, and civil estimates was also censured by Messrs. Maberly and Hume with other members, but the necessary supplies of the year were readily voted.

BILL TO PREVENT BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS.

On the 2nd of March Lord John Russell moved for leave to bring in a bill for the better prevention of bribery at elections. Leave was given; and on the second reading of it Mr. Wynn stated that he had many objections to it, which he feared it would not be practicable to remove so as to render it fit for the adoption of the house. As he understood it, he said, the principle of the bill was, that upon complaint made to the house by petition, a select committee should be appointed to try the issue, and that their decision should be final. There was an obvious objection to this; namely, that the decision of no committee could be binding upon that house. The inquisitorial powers of the house might be delegated, but not the judicial. A body might be appointed to bring in a true verdict as to fact, but the question of corruption was a question of influence. All that a committee could do was to report to the house, and the house could proceed on that report or not as it pleased. Mr. Wynn also objected to the clause which gave power to present petitions of complaint within six years from the period of election; and that there was no penalty or punishment assigned to an unfounded charge. The bill was supported by Messrs. Hobhouse, Smith, and Fyshe Palmer, but it did not proceed further; for when the report on the bill was to be taken into consideration, Lord John Russell stated that it was not his intention to press it during the session, but that he would probably embody its provisions in the shape of resolutions. On the last day of the session he moved, therefore, that "whenever a petition shall be presented to this house after the expiration of the time allowed for presenting petitions against the validity of the return of any member of this house, by any person or persons, affirming that at any time within eighteen calendar months previous to presenting the said petition, general bribery or corruption has been practised for the purpose of procuring the election or return of any member or members to serve in parliament for any borough, cinque-port, or place, and it shall appear to the house that such petition contains allegations sufficiently specific to require further investigation, a day and hour shall be appointed by the said house for taking the said petition into consideration, so that the space of twenty days shall intervene between the day on which the said petition shall have been presented, and the day appointed by the said house for taking the same into consideration, &c."—"that at the hour appointed by the said house for taking such petition into consideration, the said house shall proceed to appoint a select committee to inquire into the truth of the matters contained in the said petition, and report the result of their inquiry to the said house, and such select committee shall consist of thirteen members chosen by lot, &c." Mr. Wynn said, that he did not intend to object to the principles of these resolutions, but he thought they had better be reserved till the next parliament, as they would have to be confirmed by it. Mr. Peel thought so likewise, as the last day of the session was not a fitting time to give them that consideration which their importance demanded. Lord John Russell, however, pressed his motion to a division, as he could not be certain of having a seat in the next parliament, and the numbers on each side being equal, the speaker gave his casting vote in favour of the resolutions.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

On the 27th of April Lord John Russell again brought forward the question of parliamentary reform. The resolution he proposed was "that the present state of the representation of this country in parliament requires the most serious consideration of this house." In his speech on this occasion he laid down two premises: first, "that it was a matter of paramount importance to adapt every government to the wants and wishes, the prejudices and existing circumstances of the country for which it was intended; and that the people of this country had arrived at a degree of knowledge, intelligence, and wealth, which made them a people more worthy than had ever before existed of being entrusted with the privilege of electing their representatives, and more capable of exercising it with advantage." From these premises he concluded that the house of commons as it existed at present, was badly constituted; for instead of being chosen by the more numerous, the more intelligent, and the mora wealthy class, it was elected by the minority, the less intelligent, and the less wealthy. As therefore the elective franchise, instead of remaining in the hands of the many, had become the property of a few, and as such a discrepancy between the condition of the people, and the constitution of the government had unhappily come into existence, calamities would one day or other ensue, unless the state of the representation were amended, from which neither the constitution nor the country would ever recover. After noticing the objections commonly urged against the necessity of reform, the noble mover continued, that, of two modes of reform which it was customary to propose, the one a total reconstruction, and the other a partial renovation of the house of commons, the latter appeared to him of the soundest principle, and the best suited to the condition of the country. The principal feature of his plan, he explained, would be, to restrict a hundred of the smaller boroughs to one member instead of allowing them two, and to give the number of representatives thus subtracted from them to towns of importance unrepresented. These details, however, he said, would be matter of future deliberation. The object he had in view was, in the words of Mr. Fox, "not to pull down, but to work upon our constitution; to examine it with care and reverence; to repair it where decayed; to amend it where defective; to prop it where it wanted support; and to adapt it to the purposes of the present time, as our ancestors had done from generation to generation, and always transmitted it not only unimpaired, but improved, to posterity." The measure was supported by Mr. Hobhouse, and opposed by Messrs. Dennison and Lamb; but the debate did not present much novelty, and it terminated in the rejection of the motion by a majority of two hundred and forty-seven to one hundred and twenty-three.

ALTERATION OF THE CRIMINAL CODE.

At this period Mr. Peel applied the powers of his clear and dispassionate mind to the simplification and improvement of our criminal code. On the 9th of March he introduced a bill to consolidate the various acts which related to offences against property. He explained the nature of these acts at great length; but the bill was not carried through the commons during this session, Mr. Peel stating, that from the multiplicity of its details, it was necessary to proceed in it with the most cautious deliberation. Another bill, which was introduced by him, and which passed into a law, had for its object the removal of inconveniences belonging to the administration of the criminal law generally, and in particular the amendment of the existing regulations relative to admitting bail in cases of felony. One clause, which Mr. Lamb endeavoured to introduce into the bill, was contested with great vigour on both sides of the house. This was a proposal, which had already frequently been rejected, for allowing counsel to prisoners. This clause was supported by Messrs. Williams, Twiss, Scarlett, Brougham, and Denman; and opposed by the attorney and solicitor-generals, and by Messrs. Peel and Canning. The attorney-general allowed that in regard to its merits the opinion of the bar was divided; but he expressed his conviction that it would be injurious to the prisoner as well as to justice. As criminal proceedings were now conducted, the prosecutor's case was opened by a simple statement of facts; and the judge always took care that his counsel should not go further, and the evidence was heard dispassionately. After this the prisoner's case was gone through in the same way, except that there was no previous statement of facts, because the general nature of the case was already understood. There was, finally, the charge of the judge, carefully sifting the evidence, and calmly applying the law. But the case, he argued, would be different if counsel were heard on both sides. There would then be all the zeal, the animation, and the struggle for victory which were usually seen in civil cases. Besides, he continued, the counsel for the prosecution would always have the benefit of a reply whenever the accused called a witness, which might more than counterbalance any favourable effect of evidence. The functions of the judge, also, would assume a character disadvantageous to the prisoner; for if the address of the counsel of the prisoner threatened to be efficient, the judge in many cases would have to interfere: In doing this, it was urged, he might unconsciously pass the exact boundary that ought to circumscribe his remarks; the impression then would probably go forth that the verdict of the jury had been elicited by those remarks; and the judge, instead of being, as he was now, counsel for the prisoner, would be almost compelled to become an advocate against him. On the other side Mr. H. Twiss set forth in a strong light the absurdity of permitting counsel to start and multiply the most frivolous and visionary objections to the form and phraseology of an indictment, with the merits and evidences of their client's case. He also set forth the hardships under which a prisoner lay, who, wishing to address the jury of the facts of a case, must do it with his own lips, under all the disadvantages of natural disability, physical impediments, or accidents of his situation, while the very incompetency to do himself justice would be aggravated by a knowledge of the serious consequences attendant on his failure. As to the fiction of the judge being counsel for the prisoner, he said, it would in most cases be much more true to say, that he was counsel against the prisoner, and for the prosecutor. Whence, he asked, came the only instructions which the judge received in any of these cases? From the depositions of the witnesses for the prosecution. Sir Robert Atkyns, in his notes upon Lord Russell's trial, had truly said, "I well know by experience what sort of counsel judges usually be for the prisoner." Mr. Peel admitted that the arguments which might be raised on both sides of this question were very equally poised; that the legal opinions upon it were nearly equiponderant; and that if he were convinced of the alteration being fitting itself, he would not oppose to it merely the antiquity of the law which it was intended to change. His own experience, however, and the knowledge acquired from his official situation, led him to think that justice was most satisfactorily administered under the present system: he felt unwilling to risk any change. The clause was lost on a division by one hundred and five against thirty-six.

CASE OF MR. KENRICK.

In the early part of this session the house considered a charge brought by Mr. Denman against Mr. Kenrick, a magistrate of the county of Surrey, and one of the Welsh judges. Evidence on the charge was entered into; and Mr. Denman moved, that as Mr. Kenrick had shown himself an unfit person to exercise the judicial functions, an address be presented to his majesty, praying him to remove that gentleman from the office of judge of the great session of Wales. The motion, however, was negatived without a division; and this fact became a powerful argument in favour of parliamentary reform.

STATE OF THE COLONIES.

During this session cases of great cruelty and injustice, exercised by owners, magistrates, and judicial courts, against the slaves in our colonies, were brought before the parliament, and eloquently exposed. At the close of 1823, and the early part of 1824, a plan of an insurrection among the slaves on certain plantations in Jamaica had been discovered; and eight negroes had been executed as implicated in the conspiracy. The papers connected with these trials had been laid on the table of the house in 1825; and Mr. Denman now brought the legality and justice of these proceedings under discussion, by moving a resolution to the effect, that the house having taken into consideration the trials which took place at Jamaica for rebellion, conspiracy, and other offences, in the years 1823 and 1824, deem it their duty to express their sorrow and regret at the violation of law which took place upon the said trials; that they lament the manner in which the sentence of death was passed and executed; and recommend some alteration in the mode of administering the code of criminal justice affecting the slaves in the said colony. This motion was prefaced by a speech of great eloquence, analyzing the evidence upon which the accused had been convicted, demonstrating its contradictions, its insufficiency, its absurdity, and arriving at the conclusion that such atrocities, perpetrated under the mask of justice, and the law of evidence which permitted them, required the abolition of the system which placed a negro for trial before interested masters for his judges and jury; and in giving him an appeal to the council, merely gave him an appeal to another body of masters equally prejudiced. Having detailed the trials at length, Mr. Denman said he proposed the above resolutions, that the commons of England might have an opportunity of raising their voice against such acts of crying injustice and barbarity. He was ably seconded by Mr. Brougham, who, in the course of his speech, declared that if the circumstances of undefended justice passed unreproved, it would go out to the West Indies that the same error, injustice, or cruelty might be committed again and again with impunity, so long as the present system continued; and if the house negatived the motion, it would set the seal of its sanction on a great and crying injustice, and do more than it would be able speedily to undo towards perpetuating the existing system in our colonies. On the other hand, it was maintained by Mr. Wilmot Horton that the courts had only applied the law which they were bound to apply; and that they had applied it according to the forms required by that law, and in circumstances which fairly called for the interference of the legal authorities. He moved an amendment, that the house sees in the proceedings brought under their consideration a further proof of the evils attendant upon slavery, and derives from them an increased conviction of the propriety of resorting to the measures recommended by government in the order of council; but does not deem it necessary, however desirable a change of the law may be, to impeach the sentences passed according to law by a competent trial, and convicted by a jury sworn to give a verdict according to the evidence. This amendment was supported by the attorney-general and solicitor-general, both of whom, however, frankly admitted the vices of the system of law under which the proceedings in question had taken place. It was impossible, said the attorney-general, to look at the case, arising as it did out of the vice of the system, without wishing for a change. If the white man upon his trial had an opportunity afforded him of knowing the charge, and thereby preparing his defence, why should not the black slave have the same advantage? An act of the legislature had lately passed to compel the charge to be delivered in writing. This act was brought into the colonial legislature of Jamaica; but it was accompanied by a proviso that no objection should ever be made on a point of form. Men were prone to confound substance and form to be permitted this latitude. An instance of this was supplied in the present case. The prisoners were accused of being guilty of a rebellious conspiracy, and other charges; thus the prosecutor could adduce whatever evidence he chose under a charge so very broad. Here was a conspiracy charged; but with whom? No individuals were mentioned. Any overt act specified? Time? No time certified. Place? No circumstance or place. When the Slave Evidence Bill was introduced into the colonial assembly of Jamaica, it was rejected on the ground that the slave was too low in the scale of moral beings; that he had no character, no distinct notion of morality, no notion of religion, or of the distinction between truth and falsehood. But when the slave was to be tried, other slaves were admitted as witnesses; and that, too, on their bare word, and an exhortation from the judge not to speak falsely. It was a known rule in this country—and the common law of England was in force in the West Indies—that hearsay evidence should not be received; yet the whole course of these proceedings showed manifold departures from this important rule: while it was an acknowledged law in regard to the whites, it had no application in regard to the blacks. But while the law was acknowledged to be bad, it was argued, that it was another thing to pass a vote of censure for the observance of it, however defective it might be. The house ought, it was said, to separate the defects-of the law from the alleged delinquency of the parties, and reject a motion which went, not to denounce the system of slavery or to censure the law, but to condemn individuals who had no power to alter the one, or to abolish the other. On a division the amendment was carried by one hundred and three against sixty-three. During this session, however, delay and remedial measures were suggested by Lord Liverpool in the upper house, and by Mr. Canning in the commons, for the extinction of slavery. Mr. Canning declared that if immediate and hasty steps were not taken, our West Indian possessions would be abandoned to a state of savage desolation, of which wild speculators had not the slightest notion. At the same time he was obliged to confess that in most of our colonies the exhortations sent by government, for the amelioration of the condition of their slaves, had been treated with intolerable neglect and contempt. In the lords the resolutions were objected to, on the ground that they were too feeble for the nature of the subject; that though adopted they would produce no practical effect; and that the three years which had elapsed since they were voted by the house of commons—for they had been adopted in May, 1823—had furnished irrefragable evidence of their futility. Lord Calthorpe expressed his deep regret that the commons had not passed resolutions more conformable to the light in which slavery ought to be regarded by a Christian community, and that their lordships were now called upon to concur in opinions better suited to their own dignity. There were not 'wanting members in the commons who were equally desirous of legislating in the spirit of Christianity, equally with his lordship. It was maintained there with great eloquence that slavery was inconsistent with Christianity and the constitution. Occasion was given for the expression of these sentiments in the commons, by a motion made by Mr. Brougham on the 19th of May, to the effect that "the house has observed with extreme regret that nothing had been effected by the colonial legislature, in compliance with the declared wishes of government and the resolutions of the house of the 15th of May, 1823, for ameliorating the condition of the slaves in the West Indian colonies; and that this house, therefore, pledges itself, early in the next session of parliament, to take into its most serious consideration such measures as may be best calculated to carry into effect the recommendation of the government and the house." This motion was supported by Dr. Lushington and Mr. Denman; but opposed by Messrs. Canning, Ellis, and Horton. Mr. Canning, however, asserted that government only wished to retard a little the attainment of the object, in order that they might arrive at it with greater security. Sir T. Ackland said, that he did not wish directly to negative the motion; but as he thought the adoption of it would retard the good effects to be looked for from the resolutions of 1823, he moved the previous question, which was carried by a large majority. In the upper house, on the 17th of April, Lord Suffield brought forward a motion to prohibit persons in official situations in the West Indies from being proprietors of slaves; a motion which, he said, had no connexion with the emancipation of the negroes; and was directed not so much to the conceding of civil rights, as to the preventing of criminal wrong. The same topic was brought before the commons by Mr. W. Smith on the 20th of April; but the resolutions thereon were negatived in both houses. At the close of the session, indeed, the colonial legislatures were allowed further opportunity of showing how far they were inclined by timely concessions and purposes of good faith to avert the direct interference of the mother country in their internal regulations.

MODE FOR AMENDING THE REPRESENTATION OF EDINBURGH, ETC.

During this session Mr. Abercromby moved leave to bring in a bill to alter and amend the representation of the city of Edinburgh, which, he said, contained a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants, while the elective franchise was in the hands of a town-council of thirty-three members, self-elected, and what were called the vested rights of that body were generally the principal obstacles thrown in the way of a better system. This motion was strongly opposed by the members for the town and county of Edinburgh, on the ground that no corruption had been charged against the corporation of Edinburgh; and by Mr. Canning, who considered it was intended to undermine the barriers which resisted the inroads of a more wide and sweeping innovation. Mr. Canning also brought forward the unexampled prosperity of Edinburgh, and the contentment which pervaded its population, as a convincing proof of the excellence of the old system. After expatiating on the advantages connected with the Scotch representation, he remarked that his objection to the present motion was its application, as a single instance of reform in a borough, to the general question. It was not unusual, he said, to bring forward an attack on a single borough by an allegation of the prevalence of abuses; but it was quite new to institute a charge against it because its elective was not in proportion to its actual population. This principle, if once admitted, would let in the general question of reform, which would lead to endless squabbles. At the same time he expressed a hope, that the motion might be repeated annually; but it was to this end, for the innocent gratification of Lord John Russell and those who advocated reform! On a division the motion was lost. About the same time that this question was discussed, Sir John Newport moved for leave to bring in a bill for the repeal of the Irish act, 21 Geo. 2nd., c. 10, relating to the elective franchise. By that statute it had been enacted, that, in consequence of the difficulty of finding a sufficient number of resident Protestant freemen, sufficiently wealthy and sufficiently educated to exercise the elective franchise, non-resident freemen should be entitled to vote. Sir J. Newport argued that the cause which produced these enactments had ceased to operate, and that therefore the act itself ought to be removed from the statute-book. On the other hand it was argued by Mr. Plunkett that the country had gone on for seventy years with the principle of non-residence applied to boroughs and corporate towns, and that the effect of the measure would be to affect vested rights, and disturb persons actually in possession. If that act were repealed, he said, the election of every officer of a corporation would be impeachable. The house should especially pause before it assented to such a proposition on the eve of a general election, a proposition, the effects of which upon existing rights, could not be measured. The motion was negatived by seventy-six against thirty-eight.

RESOLUTION FOR THE REGULATION OF PRIVATE COMMITTEES.

On the 19th of April, Mr. Littleton brought forward a series of resolutions for the better regulation of private committees on private bills, especially those relating to joint-stock companies. Great complaints had been made of the conduct of these committees; but Mr. Littleton observed that he believed they were generally ill-founded. It was certain, however, he continued, that the present constitution of committees rendered improper conduct perfectly possible; but this, the plan he had in view would prevent. The grand features of this plan were to remodel the list for the counties; to secure impartiality by taking only one half of the committee from the county in which the bill originated; to make attendance compulsory, and to prevent the chance of abuse by creating a standing committee of appeal. His scheme was embodied in eight resolutions which were adopted with the general approbation of the house. The only one on which a division took place was that which provided that every petition complaining of the decision of a private committee should be referred to a committee of appeal; and this was carried by a majority of forty-four against thirty-three.

MOTION TO HOLD PARLIAMENT OCCASIONALLY IN DUBLIN AND EDINBURGH.

On the same day that Mr. Littleton brought forward the resolutions alluded to, Mr. Pelham, made one of most extraordinary motions that ever was proposed within the walls of Saint Stephen's. After adverting to the great increase of wealth and population in the principal towns of the kingdom, their distance from the seat of legislation, and the expense of sending witnesses and deputies to London whenever their interests were at stake, he gravely moved, "That it is expedient the imperial parliament should be occasionally holden in Dublin and Edinburgh." The very idea of such a change was justly scouted by the house as unworthy their attention, and no one was found bold enough to second the motion: so St. Stephen's was not yet to be deserted.

RESTORATION OF FORFEITED SCOTCH PEERAGES.

Acts were passed during this session for the restoration of five Scotch peerages which had been forfeited by rebellion in the last century. These were the peerages of the Earl of Carnwath, Earl of Airlee, Lord Duff, Lord Elcho, and the Baron of Threipland of Fingarll. The only person who opposed this measure was Lord Minto, and he avowed that his opposition was founded upon political sentiments. He asked, why should not a bill be brought in for the restoration of titles against all acts of attainder passed under the present and preceding dynasties? Why make a selection of forfeitures incurred for treason, not against the crown, but against the liberties of the subject? Why, for instance, was not the Duke of Buccleugh restored to the dukedom of Monmouth? He confessed that the selection which had been made was most unfortunate; and he was sorry that he had not stated his objections when the bills made their first appearance in the house. Mr. Peel replied by the simple statement that these reversals of attainders had commenced with that of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and that he himself had made the motion that the descendants of Lord Strafford should be restored to their family dignities.

MOTION TO DISJOIN THE PRESIDENCY OF THE BOARD OF TRADE FROM THE

TREASURERSHIP OF THE NAVY.

On the 7th of April, the chancellor of the exchequer moved, in a committee of supply, to disjoin the presidency of the board of trade and the treasurership of the navy. Mr. Huskisson filled these two offices at a salary of £3,000, and it was now proposed that he should become president of the board of trade alone, with a salary of £5,000. The most willing homage was paid to the great talents of Mr. Huskisson by all parties in the house, together with the high value of his public services; but the proposal was met by a decided opposition, on the ground that the disjunction of the two offices was unnecessary, as no active duty was attached to the treasurership of the navy. At all events, it was urged, its duties might without inconvenience be transferred to the paymaster, the real officer in that department; that by adding £2,000 to the present salary of the treasurer, or giving £2,000 additional as the salary of the presidency of the board of trade., the same amount of remuneration to the individual holding both offices would be made up at a smaller cost to the public. It was insinuated that the scheme of disjoining the offices was merely a cloak for the introduction of a new placeman into the house. On the other hand it was contended by Mr. Huskisson and others that considerable anxiety and hardship arose; out of the union of the two offices; and that it was; altogether erroneous to suppose that the occupation of the treasurer of the navy was merely to pay money. Opposition, however, was so strong against the measure that in a discussion, when the report was brought up, Mr. Canning said that he did not feel himself called upon to press it. He viewed with regret the small support which had been given to it; and though as a matter of principle he was ready to defend it, yet he would abandon it on the ground of expediency.

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION, ETC.

The question of Catholic emancipation, although not formally stirred in either house during this session, was nevertheless kept alive by petitions from different districts and bodies in Ireland. These petitions were now especially directed to a disclaimer of the imputation of owing a divided allegiance; manifestly on account of the weight which the argument of the anti-Catholics on this point had carried with it in the debate of the preceding session. The speeches delivered on the presentation of them also characterized the imputation of a divided allegiance as a false pretence, because the Catholics in all their petitions declared, that, in the oaths which they took and were ready to take, they swore allegiance to his majesty alone. But Lord Liverpool rightly answered, that although he never doubted the sincerity of the Catholics in disclaiming civil allegiance to any foreign power, the fact could not affect the argument: he contended that spiritual subjection to a foreign power was inconsistent with civil obedience to our own sovereign.

While the claims of the Catholics were merely the subject of incidental remarks, the condition of the Protestant church in Ireland, became the subject of more direct discussion. Lord Kingston moved in the upper house for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the state of the Protestant church in the province of Munster. His motion was founded upon the evils which he stated to have arisen from the union of livings, and the consequent want of churches for Protestant worship. It was not uncommon, he said, to unite five, six, or even seven livings in one person; and in many parishes, if the Protestant inhabitants wished spiritual consolation, or to have the benefit of religious worship, the nearest clergyman who could advise them, and the nearest church in which service was performed was probably at a great distance. It was answered that as the returns on the table of the house, furnished by the lords' committee to inquire into the state of Ireland last session, showed all the parishes that existed in Ireland, and the authority by which they had been made, the motion was unnecessary: it was withdrawn. The want of churches, which it was the object of this motion to supply, was connected with the administration of the fund formed of the first-fruits of all ecclesiastical benefices. These revenues, or the first year's income of every benefice, had been originally payable to the pope; but on the Reformation they were vested in the crown, and they had been appropriated by an act of Queen Anne, in part at least, to the building of churches. Sir John Newport brought the management of this fund, and the insufficiency of the system according to which the contributions of the clergy to it were regulated, under the notice of the commons, by a series of resolutions declaratory of its nature and history, and by a motion for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into its condition and administration. He justified his motion by the fact that the first-fruits, where they were paid at all, continued to be paid upon the rate of valuation, for which there was no authority, and that consequently the greater portion of the fund sacrificed by the crown was allowed to remain in the hands of the clergy, while new burdens were laid upon parishioners to effect those very objects for which the fund had been created. This motion was opposed as a covert and most dangerous attack upon the property of the Irish church, and through it upon the property, not only of the church of England, but of all bodies in the state; and as being derived from a fallacious interpretation of the law, warranted neither by history, authority, nor expediency, On a division it was rejected by a majority of forty-eight to twenty-one. The mover, Sir John Newport, was subsequently more successful in endeavouring to institute an inquiry into abuses said to exist in the administration of the parochial rates levied in Ireland for the religious service of the Protestant establishment. He moved resolutions pledging the house to adopt measures for their removal, and on a division the motion was carried. Measures of greater importance were carried by government itself, namely, for promoting the education and moral improvement of the great mass of the Irish people. Grants for these important purposes were voted, though not without opposition from many members, on the grounds of the abuses and oppressions in the management of the schools in Ireland as detailed in the report of the preceding year; and that proselytism was made a part of the system of education pursued therein. In these discussions government manifested no desire to perpetuate abuses, nor any disinclination to cautious and practicable amendment. The same spirit was carried into other departments more strictly connected with the civil administration of Ireland. A committee on the state of the country had presented a report in 1825, recommending the adoption of various measures; and during this session several of those measures were carried into effect. Thus an act was passed consolidating the laws for the regulation and management of prisons; better regulations were enacted for the administration of justice in towns corporate; provision was made to remedy the inequalities of local assessments, by introducing an uniform valuation of baronies, parishes, and other divisions of counties; an act was passed which made provision for a more convenient and abundant distribution of lunatic asylums; and the law of Ireland was amended respecting the assignment and subletting of lands and tenements, by which some check was put to that infinite division, not of property but the use of property which had so impoverished and degraded the Irish peasantry. On the recommendation of the select committee of 1825, also, a motion for an address to his majesty was carried, praying him to order a commission for inquiry into the tolls and customs collected in fairs, markets, and sea-ports in Ireland. These tolls and customs had been granted to particular individuals and corporations, and great evils existed in the levying of them, whence the motion for inquiry. It was opposed both on the general merits of the measure, and on the inefficiency of the particular mode of inquiry proposed; but the motion was carried, and a select committee accordingly appointed.

INDIA JURY BILL, ETC.

An important alteration was introduced this session into the administration of justice in India, by a bill brought in by Mr. Wynn, for the regulation of juries within the territories of the East India Company. The existing law admitted all British subjects to serve upon juries; but the right had never been extended to all persons born within the British dominions. During late years a large population had sprung up in India, known by the name of "half-caste," one of their parents having been a native, and the other an European. This class, though born in wedlock, as well as another numerous class, consisting of the illegitimate children of European fathers by Indian mothers, were disqualified from serving upon juries, under the idea that they were not British subjects; and Mr. Wynn moved that this disqualification should be removed, which motion was adopted. A bill was also passed this session allowing the East India Company to appoint any person to a writership who should produce testimonials of character, and undergo such an examination as might be fixed by the court of directors and the Indian board. By an act, passed in 1813, no person was eligible to be a writer in the Company's service who had not passed four terms in the East Indian college; and in consequence of the extension of the Company's territories, and the establishment, of new courts in Bengal, much inconvenience had arisen from the restriction, as the college could not supply a sufficient number of young men fit for office.

NATURALIZATION ACT, ETC.

During this session the law of naturalization was extended in Canada. By the act, 179 no person could be summoned to the legislative council, or elect, or be elected, to the legislative assembly of these provinces, unless he was either a natural born subject of Great Britain, or a subject become so by the conquest and cession of the Canadas, or had been naturalized by an act of the British parliament. A bill was now passed giving to a naturalizing act of the Canadian legislature the same effect as to one of the legislature in England; providing, however, that such act should be null and void, unless ratified by his majesty within two years after being presented to him for that purpose. The only other measure regarding our relations with foreign states, besides these already noticed, which occupied the attention of parliament, was the expiry of the Alien Act. This session it died a natural death; and a milder set of regulations, conferring no power of sending aliens out of the country, were adopted in its stead. In relinquishing that power, Mr. Peel said that he had the gratifying consciousness that in no instance had it been abused. The only case in which it had been used was one which had not the slightest shade of a political aspect attached to it. It was that of a person who had menaced a foreign ambassador, and who, it was believed, would have carried his threats into execution had he not been brought before the privy-council and dealt with according to that act.

PROROGATION AND DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.

The session of parliament was shortened by the approach of its dissolution. The session was terminated on the 31st of May by commission. The speech, which was delivered by the lord chancellor, mentioned his majesty's intention of dissolving the present parliament, and directing the issue of writs for the calling of a new one. A leading topic in the speech was the success of the British arms in the Burmese empire, success which had led to the signature on honourable terms of a preliminary treaty with the Burmese monarch, which his majesty had every reason to expect would be the foundation of a secure and permanent peace. Parliament was dissolved on the 2nd of June; and writs were issued for a new election, which were to be returnable on the 25th of July.

GENERAL ELECTION.

The elections which followed immediately the dissolution of parliament presented several scenes of active and vigorous individual combat; but they did not possess the interest which attaches to them when their issue is to decide the fate of contending parties. The chief topics on which candidates were tested were the corn-laws and Catholic emancipation. As the lower classes were under the impression that bread was high, because of the corn-laws, and that they existed to enrich the landholders, an expressed opinion in favour of their abolition was sure to gain cheers at a popular election. But the most prominent question on the hustings, even in England, was Catholic emancipation. The Duke of York's speech, and the violence exhibited in Ireland, had created a strong feeling against the Catholics; and as it was known that their claims would be one of the earliest subjects of discussion in the new parliament, the success of a candidate generally depended as to whether he was, or was not in favour of Catholic emancipation. It was in Ireland, however, that the giving or refusing of a vote mostly depended on the answer received to the question, Will you vote for emancipation? The demagogues of the Catholic Association gave themselves up to the carrying of this one point; and they were aided by that powerful band of agitators, the Irish priests. The contest on the Irish hustings was, indeed, converted into an award of eternal damnation: the consolations of the church here, and the joys of heaven hereafter, were promised those who voted for an emancipation candidate; but the darkness of excommunication in this life, and the gloom of purgatory first, and then the pains of hell, were denounced against those who voted for an anti-Catholic. The associated barrister and the political priest travelled the country together in order to propagate the common creed; the one by threats of damnation, and the other by the more temporal considerations of civil and religious power; and this tyrannical sway of the artful and designing was irresistible among the forty-shilling freeholders—it procured the large majority pledged to support the claims of Catholic emancipation. The great influence which the priests had over the ignorant multitude was seen in a remarkable manner by the issue of the election for the county of Waterford. Mr. O'Connell and the Rev. Mr. Sheehan traversed that county to rouse it against the family of Beresford; and every tie of respect and civil influence which had hitherto united the Catholic tenant to his Protestant landlord gave way before the power of the church, The electors were wielded by the priesthood; and Lord George Beresford was compelled by his own tenantry to give tip the contest. At a meeting held in Clonmel to celebrate this triumph, Mr. Sheehan, the priest, remarked, "We said to the people, 'Here are the natural enemies of your country, and here are your priests who wait on the bed of your sickness, and are your friends alike in prosperity or in woe: follow us or them.'" Such an appeal to the feelings of a superstitious multitude was sure to prevail: there is more might in superstition than in any of the lawful weapons in argument which man can use.

THE BURMESE WAR.

GEORGE IV. 1826—1827

There was no faith manifested by the court of wa in the armistice which had been concluded in September, 1825, and so the war continued. During the negociations which followed, the Burmese monarch had made vigorous preparations for its continuance; and when the armistice had nearly expired, in reply to the proposals made for peace by the British commanders, this haughty and laconic answer was given, "If you wish for peace, you may go away; but if you wish either money or territory, no friendship can exist between us. This is Burmese custom." The reply was seconded by the advance of 60,000 Burmese troops along the banks of the Irrawaddy against the British and native Indian troops at Prome. The right division, consisting of 15,000 men, under the command of Sadda Woon, moved along the western bank of the river; the centre, of about 30,000, commanded by the Kee Wongee, or head minister, marched along the eastern bank, with numerous war-boats and stores; and the left, 15,000 strong, under Maha Nemiow, moved by a route about ten miles distant from the river, and separated from it by an extensive forest. Besides these there was a reserve of 10,000 men, under Prince Memiaboo, occupying a strongly fortified position at Melloone; another force ready to oppose any movement from Arracan; and Sykia Wongee was still carrying on a desultory warfare in the vicinity of Pegu, and threatening Rangoon. The British force consisted only of 5,000 men, besides a garrison to maintain Prome, and some native troops opposed to Sykia Wongee, and in garrison at Rangoon. A rencontre took place between our advanced guard and Maha Nemiow's division on the 10th of November, in which the British suffered severely; their commander, Colonel M'Dowall, was slain, and the troops were obliged to retreat. Encouraged by this success, Maha Nemiow marched directly on Prome, close to which he took up his position. About 8,000 of his men were slain whose confidence had not been shaken by contact with our troops; and these levies were accompanied by three young and beautiful women of high rank, who pretended to have the gift of prophecy, and to be possessed of power to turn aside a musket-ball. The Shans were led to believe, indeed, that they were invincible; but they soon discovered that they were unable to compete with the British. Being surrounded by danger on every side, Sir A. Campbell resolved at once to become the assailant; and on the 30th of November arrangements were made to attack the enemy's forces on the following morning; Commodore Sir James Brisbane with the flotilla being directed to cannonade their posts on both sides of the river at daylight, while a body of native infantry made a feigned attack on the centre as the columns were marching out for the real attack on the Burmese left, at Simbike. For this purpose the principal force was formed into two columns: one under Brigadier-general Cotton, which marched by the direct road; and the other, led by the commander-in-chief, which crossed the Nawine river and moved along its right bank, in order to come round to the Burmese rear, and to cut off all retreat. The attack everywhere succeeded; the Shans themselves, though they fought with fury, were obliged to take refuge in flight. Every division of the Burmese numerous force was routed with great slaughter; and many of the chiefs, among whom was Maha Nemiow, perished in the fight. One of the fair prophetesses also received a bullet in her breast, and being carried to a cottage in the rear expired. Sir A. Campbell now determined to advance on Ava; and nothing was wanting in the troops, or forgotten by their commander, to ensure success. But the enemy did not yet despair. The stockades at Meaday were made as strong as art could make them; and at Melloone, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy, the reserve under Prince Memiaboo was augmented to 15,000 men. The British troops arrived at Meaday on the 19th of December; and they found it just evacuated by the rear-guard of the enemy, the Burmese having retired to Melloone, where they had received orders again to concentrate. The neighbourhood of Meaday presented to the British a scene of horror and desolation. Within and around the stockades the ground was covered with the dead and the dying; the victims of wounds, disease, and want. The beach and the surrounding jungles were filled with dogs and vultures, collected to consume the loathsome prey. Round about the stockades gibbets were erected, each bearing the mouldering remains of three or four victims, who were thus crucified for, perhaps, no greater crime than that of wandering from their posts in search of food, or of following the examples of their chiefs in flying from the foe. The same horrors presented themselves to the British for fifty miles up the river; and in some places the soldiers could not find a place for their tents without removing dead bodies. The pursuit was continued by forced marches; and on arriving within five miles of Patanagoh, a town opposite to Melloone, it was discovered that the whole of the enemy's force had crossed to the Melloone side of the river, and occupied with some 12,000 men a series of fortified heights, and a formidable stockade, having in front a rapid stream six hundred yards broad. While the British force was preparing to attack this formidable position, a flag of truce was sent in, with a notice that a commissioner had arrived with full powers to conclude a treaty of peace. This led to a discussion, but without effect; for the Burmese leaders again betrayed a want of faith, and the new envoy hazarded the most glaring falsehoods. Operations again commenced. The British troops having been carried across the Irrawaddy, under the protection of Captain Chads, an attack was made on the fortifications at Melloone; their defenders were driven in utter confusion from the place: and Memiaboo's treasures, to the amount of 30,000 rupees, with all his stud, fell into our hands. The army again moved forward on the 25th of January; and on the 31st it was met in its advance by Dr. Price, an American missionary, and Mr. Sandford, an assistant surgeon of the army, taken prisoners some months before, whom fear had induced the Burmese monarch to restore to liberty, and despatch as messengers of peace. They brought proposals for a short truce, which was readily granted; and they returned in full confidence that they should be sent back to ratify terms of peace. This hope, however, proved fallacious: by high bounties, by grants of important privileges, and by the most earnest appeals, 40,000 men had been collected, and the Burmese monarch resolved to continue the war. This new army was styled, Gong to doo, or, "Retrievers of the king's glory;" and it was placed under the command of a savage warrior, called Nee-Woon Breen, which has been variously translated,—"Prince of Darkness," "King of Hell," and "Prince of the Setting Sun." The certainty of another contest became evident to the British on the 8th of February; and the next day, as they debouched from the forests into the open country, they discovered the Burmese drawn up in an inverted crescent. The British force amounted to about 2,000 men; but undismayed by the number of the enemy and strength of their position, Sir A. Campbell pushed boldly on. The enemy was soon overthrown; their centre was broken, and they were closely pursued in their works, where they were routed with great slaughter; hundreds perished by jumping into the river; and, with the exception of about 3,000 men, the whole army was dispersed. The road to wa was now opened, and our troops pushed on to within forty-five miles of that city. There was now no longer time for disguise, deceit, or treachery; peace must be made, or Ava would be captured. On the evening of the 24th of February, therefore, Mr. Price, with two ministers of state, arrived at the camp at Yandaboo, to announce that the king and the court would come to terms. A treaty was ratified; the Burmese government engaging to furnish boats for the conveyance of a great part of our force to Rangoon. The articles of peace were, that the four provinces of Arracan, and the provinces of Mergui, Tavoy, and Zea, should be ceded in perpetuity to the East India Company; that the Burmese government should pay one crore of rupees by instalments; that the provinces or kingdoms of Assam, Cachar Zeatung, and Munnipore, should be placed under princes to be named by the British government, residents with an escort of fifty men to be appointed at each court; that British ships should be admitted into Burmese ports to land their cargoes free of duty, not to unship their rudders, or land their guns; that Burmese ships should have the same privileges in British ports; that no persons should be molested for their opinions or conduct during the war; and that the Siamese nation should be included in the treaty. This war was thus brought to a close; a small band, composed of British warriors and their Indian fellow-subjects, stood as conquerors in the centre of the great Burmese empire. After peace had been concluded a party of officers from the army visited wa, and were received by the humbled monarch with all due honour. Soon after the conclusion of peace the British troops who had maintained this unequal contest commenced their return to Rangoon; and, subsequently, our Indian government sent an embassy to wa, at the head of which was Mr. J. Crawford, who finally settled points relative to the frontiers, and concluded a treaty of commerce very favourable to the Company. The conduct of Sir A. Campbell advanced his character for enterprise and prudence, as well as military talent, to high renown. In the year 1831 he was created a baronet, and proceeded to New Brunswick as Lieutenant-governor of that province.

Contemporaneously with the exploits of Sir A. Campbell in the heart of the Burmese empire, an important service was rendered to our Indian empire by the commander-in-chief. Lord Combermere. The late Rajah of Bhurtpoor had died in strict alliance with our government; and by the terms of the treaty each party was bound to assist the other against all enemies. Apprehensive of the consequences which might follow his death, the rajah had during his life-time declared his son, Bulwart Singh, his successor, and included him in the treaty of alliance with the Company. On the death of the rajah, however, his nephew, Doorjun Sal, having gained a party in the army, raised a successful revolt, gained possession of Bhurtpoor itself, and seated himself on the ground. The expelled prince applied for aid to Sir David Ochterlony, the Company's resident at Delhi, and that officer embraced his cause. At first Lord Amherst, governor-general of India, disavowed the conduct of Sir David; but on receiving further information he confirmed it; and Lord Combermere was directed to march with an army for the purpose of expelling the usurper. His lordship took the field with 25,000 European and native troops, and he directed his first attempt at Bhurtpoor. The fortifications of that place were such, that it might have been supposed they were erected in those days when unlimited command over life and labour produced those stupendous monuments of human art, the pyramids. The wall of the city was of mud, sixty feet in thickness, and of great height, with a very wide and deep ditch. The circumference of the whole was about seven miles; and the walls were flanked with bastions at short intervals, on which were mounted a numerous artillery. The preparations for the attack, however, were made on a scale commensurate with the difficulties; and on the 10th of December Lord Combermere appeared before the city with more than one hundred pieces of artillery. During the night the enemy had cut the embankments of a lake to the northward, for the purpose of filling the broad and deep ditch, a measure of precaution which had been very serviceable in 1805, when the British had vainly attacked the place. In the present instance, however, our troops arrived in time to repair the breach before the water had flowed into the fosse sufficiently to render it impassable. After this a few-days were spent in reconnoitring the works, and fixing on the best points of attack, until the whole battering train with its appurtenances should arrive. In the meantime, from a desire to save the women and children from the effects of the terrible bombardment about to take place, Lord Combermere addressed a letter to Doorjun Sal, requesting him to send them out to him, and promising them safe conduct. This request, however, was barbarously refused; and on the 23rd of December the besiegers commenced their first parallel, under a heavy fire, about eight hundred yards from the north-east angle of the works. On the following morning three batteries opened on the town, and continued, with several others afterwards erected, so vigorous a fire that scarcely a roof in the town was left uninjured. The mud walls, however, still stood erect, so that, on the 3rd of January, it was deemed expedient to employ miners. Several attempts failed; but on the 16th two mines were blown up under one of the bastions; and, with the aid of a day's cannonade, effected such a breach that the result of the enterprise appeared no longer doubtful. The final assault was made on the 18th. Troops destined to rush into the city established themselves in the advanced trenches unperceived by the enemy; and the explosion of a mine, loaded with 12,000 pounds of powder, was to be the signal of attack. At eight o'clock this mine was fired, and the effect was terrific; the ground trembled as if agitated by an earthquake, and after it had heaved up with several convulsive throes, the volcanoes burst forth. The whole of the salient angle and the stone cavalier in its rear were lifted into the air, and, after the smoke and clouds of dust had passed away, the bastion with three hundred men were seen precipitated below. The two grand divisions of the army now rushed up to the breaches, and the foremost of the opposing foe were soon laid low by the British bayonets, and the rest were chased along the ramparts; in two hours the whole of the rampart was in our possession, and early in the afternoon the citadel surrendered. Doorjun Sal, who attempted to escape, was captured, together with his wife and two sons. The garrison consisted of 36,000 troops, near 10,000 of whom are said to have been slain during the siege. On the side of the British the loss was about 1200 men, many of whom were killed by the explosion of the great mine. After the capture of Bhurtpoor its fortifications were demolished, and all the other fortresses in the rajah's dominions surrendered. The rightful prince was reinstated in his authority, and the inhabitants returned to their abodes and allegiance. For this achievement Lord Combermere was raised to the rank of viscount, and the governor-general, on account of the general success of the British arms, was raised to the dignities of Viscount Holmsdale, and Earl Amherst of Arracan.

MEETING OF THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

The new parliament met on the 14th of November. It was opened by commission; and the speech, which was delivered by the lord chancellor, expressed great satisfaction at the termination of war in India. It spoke, also, of the distress which still prevailed in the commercial and manufacturing districts; but expressed a hope that the time was not far distant when, under the blessings of Divine Providence, the commerce and industry of the United Kingdom would resume their wonted activity. Another leading topic in the speech was the admission of foreign grain into the ports of the United Kingdom, not then admissible by law. His majesty said that he had called parliament together for the special purpose of communicating to them the measures which he had deemed necessary to take in this particular, and that he had directed a copy of the order in council, issued on that subject, to be laid before them, trusting that they would see sufficient reason for giving their sanction to the provisions of that order, and for carrying them into effect. The address was opposed in the upper house by Lord King, and in the commons by Mr. Brougham, both of whom complained that the speech consisted of nothing but blanks. Amendments were moved in both houses; but they were lost by overwhelming majorities. The grand error pointed out by the opposition in the speech was the omission of the subject of the corn-laws, and much discussion was entered into thereupon. When the report on the address was brought up, indeed, Mr. Western moved another amendment, pressing the consideration of this subject on the house; but it was negatived without a division. In the debates, however, Lord Liverpool in the upper house, and Mr. Canning in the commons declared that ministers were prepared to propose a general measure regarding the corn-laws; but that it would be unfair towards the country and towards parliament to bring it forward before the Christmas recess. Under these circumstances the bill of indemnity, which was rendered necessary by the order of the council for the admission of certain grain into the ports of the United Kingdom, a measure demanded by the late scanty harvest, was passed without opposition.

MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE ON JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES, ETC.

On the 5th of December Alderman Waithman moved for the appointment of a select committee upon the joint-stock speculation of the last three years. In his speech he showed that during the time mentioned there had been no less than six hundred companies formed, requiring for the execution of their intended operations, a capital of many millions. He complained of the dishonest views with which many of these were set on foot; the knavery by which a fictitious value was given to shares which had cost nothing; and of the misery produced by this systematic swindling. He remarked, that if a man purchased in the lottery, he knew something of what he was doing, that he was giving a certain sum for a very unlikely chance, and that in doing so he was conferring some benefit on government. But the joint-stock gambling was of a much more atrocious kind: it was gambling with false dice. The loss itself on the whole speculation was an evil, but the great and signal grievance was, that the holders of the shares, now worth nothing, were not the losers. The original swindlers worked up the market to the point which they had expected it to attain: then down went the shares, and when they were down the original swindlers again bought them up, and were now the holders. He instanced the Arigna Mining Company as a proof of this nefarious practice. In that company, he said, there were three thousand shares, and the first deposit was £5. In one day the premium rose upon those shares from 8 1/2 to 24, then it got to 26. and then it dropped to 24. Whether this was or was not a trick he would leave it to the house to determine. How such proceedings were brought about, he said, he would leave to any one to form an opinion. Afterwards, however, he boldly told the house how the proceedings originated. This Arigna Mining Company, he said, were seeking to obtain an act of parliament, and it was first intended that the sum of £15,000 should be divided between four or five individuals. This, however, was not considered safe, and it was agreed to divide the spoil more extensively. One gentleman put into his pocket £2,500 of this money, and afterwards £1,500 as profit upon shares, although he had not paid for those shares, but still owed £375 for them. That individual, he continued, was Sir William Congreve, a member of parliament: and was not, he asked, parliament called upon to do something towards an inquiry into conduct so dishonourable? Never had there been a fouler stain upon the house. After some remarks on the Equitable Loan Company, the alderman moved, "that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the origin, the management, and the present state of the joint-stock companies formed during the years 1824,1825, and 1826, and to report on the same, together with any special matter touching any member of that house." Mr. Canning, in reply, objected to the inquiry on account of its extent, asserting that for inquiry to be useful it must be limited and precise. Enough had been said to show that there was strong ground for suspicion, that in the affairs of some few companies there was matter deserving inquiry; but the motion as it stood involved many companies against the utility and management of which no charge had been brought. He moved an amendment, therefore, that the inquiry of the committee should be limited to the management and history of the Arigna Company. He was supported by Mr. Huskisson, who, in his speech, denounced the idea that joint-stock companies of every description were public evils. He was astonished, he said, to hear men of business talk of mining carried on by joint-stock companies as a thing of recent date. No mine worked in this country had ever been so, except by means of joint-stock companies. Without the formation of such companies, those mines, indeed, would not have been explored. It ought to be, he added, the policy of the law to encourage joint-stock companies; for when embarked in properly and fairly, they are beneficial to the public interests, and fraught with great public advantages. At the same time, he was ready to admit, that those who had been concerned in the speculations and bubbles of the last two years had disgraced themselves; especially if they knew at the time they engaged in them that they were not likely to lead to the public benefit. Mr. Canning's amendment was agreed to without a division, and the committee appointed.

KING'S MESSAGE RESPECTING THE CONDUCT OF SPAIN TOWARDS PORTUGAL.

On the 11th of December, Lord Bathurst in the upper house and Mr. Canning in the commons, unexpectedly delivered a message from the king recounting the hostile and faithless conduct of Spain towards Portugal, and requesting that parliament would enable his majesty to fulfil his obligations towards the oldest of his allies. The message stated that his majesty had for some time past, in conjunction with the King of France, endeavoured to prevent the hostile aggression from Spain, and had repeatedly assured the court of Madrid that such aggression would not be tolerated by England; but that notwithstanding these assurances, hostile inroads into the territory of Portugal had been concerted in Spain, and had been executed under the eyes of the Spanish authorities by Portuguese regiments, which had deserted into Spain, and which the Spanish government had repeatedly engaged to disarm and disperse.

The facts of the aggression complained of were briefly these. On the death of John IV., King of Portugal, he was succeeded by his son, Don Pedro, of Brazil. As the constitution of Brazil had provided that its crown should never be united on the same head with that of the mother country, Don Pedro preferring his transatlantic sceptre, resigned his European crown to his infant daughter, and appointed a regency to govern during her minority. At the same time he remodelled the old political institutions of Portugal, and gave it a constitution in the form of a representative government. There was, however, a large party in Portugal hostile to this constitution, and a conspiracy broke out against it and the regency; Don Miguel, the emperor's brother, being proclaimed king, and having sworn to maintain his rights. Miguel was supported by some regiments of the Portuguese army, and a war ensued between his supporters and the troops in favour of the constitution. For the most part Don Miguel was unsuccessful; and whenever his troops were compelled by want or by his opponents to cross the frontiers, they were not only received and protected by the Spanish authorities, but again organized at the expense of the Spanish government, and sent forth to the invasion of Portugal. The British and Portuguese ministers at Madrid remonstrated; but the cabinet of Spain answered by lying disavowals, or hollow promises; and every day its conduct became more and more perfidious. The invasion was, to all political intents and purposes, an invasion by Spain; and as the danger increased, the Portuguese ambassador at London made a formal application to our government for the military assistance which the treaties between the two countries stipulated. Ministers waited a few days till the conduct of Spain had been placed beyond a doubt, and then advised his majesty to send the above message to the commons.

In proposing an address to the throne on this occasion, Mr. Canning vindicated our interference in the affairs of the Peninsula and fully developed the principles of his foreign policy. Disclaiming every purpose of interference in the internal dissensions of Portugal or influencing the settlement of her domestic institutions, he considered England as merely called upon to defend her from an invasion organized by foreign aid. In order to prove this position he detailed the provisions of subsisting treaties; after which he called the attention of parliament to the present relative state of Portugal and Spain, asserting that he asked for a vote merely for the defence of Portugal, and not for aggression against Spain. There is still a road open to Spain, he said, for retraction and redress; and this would be greatly promoted by the presence of a British army on the Portuguese territories. Concerning the new constitution he remarked:—"As to the merits of the new constitution of Portugal, I do not think I have any right to offer any opinion. Personally I may have formed one; but as an English minister all I have to say is, May God prosper this attempt at the establishment of constitutional liberty in Portugal! and may that nation be found as fit to enjoy and to cherish its new-born privileges, as it has often proved itself capable of discharging its duties among the nations of the world!" Mr. Canning next went into a detail of the aggressions of Spain, as well as her motives: expressing an earnest hope, that, on hearing of the step we were about to take, that power would act so as to render hostilities unnecessary. He dreaded war; but he begged to be understood not as dreading war in a good cause, from any distrust of our strength and resources; on the contrary, he feared it because this country possessed the power to push any war in which she might engage to consequences the bare notion of which made him shudder. Our position at this time was not one of mere neutrality between contending nations, it was a position preserving the balance of power necessary for the safety of Europe. "Nearly four years of experience," he remarked, "have confirmed that opinion; and it is to be feared that the next contest in Europe, if it should extend beyond the narrow limits of Portugal and Spain, will be a war of the most tremendous nature, because it will be a war of conflicting opinions. And although this country may enter into it with a desire to mitigate and control its horrors, yet she cannot help seeing under her banners all those who are restless and dissatisfied, with or without cause, in every nation with which she may be placed at variance. The consciousness of the fact, the knowledge that we possess such tremendous power, forces me to feel as I now feel. But it is one thing to have a giant's strength, and another to use it like a giant. The consciousness that we have this power keeps us safe: our business is not to seek opportunities of displaying it; but to keep it, that hereafter the world may see we knew its proper use, while we shrunk from converting the empire into an oppressor. The consequences of letting loose those passions which are chained up, may be such as will lead to a scene of desolation which no one can contemplate without horror; and such as I could never lie easy on my couch, if I was conscious of having by one hour precipitated. I would fear much and forbear long; I would almost put up with anything that did not touch our national faith and national honour rather than let slip the furies of war, when we know not whom they may reach, and where the devastation may end. Such is the love of peace which the British government acknowledges, and such the duties of peace which the circumstances of the world inculcate. In obedience to this conviction, and with the hope of avoiding extremities, I will push no further the topics of this part of the address. Let us defend Portugal whoever may be the assailants, because it is a work of duty; and let us end where that duty ends. We go to Portugal, not to rule, not to dictate, not to prescribe laws. We go only to plant there the standard of England, and where that standard is planted foreign dominion shall not come." The speech of Mr. Canning had a most powerful effect upon the house: loud cheers resounded from all sides as he sat down, much exhausted. Yet there were dissentients to the proposed measure. Mr. Hume opposed the address, on the ground that this country was not in a situation to enter upon, and to maintain for any length of period a war on a great scale. He moved an amendment that "the house be called over this day week," which motion was supported by Messrs. Wood and Bankes. On the other hand the motion for an address was supported by Sir Robert Wilson, and Messrs. Baring and Brougham. The latter, in adverting to the ground on which the amendment was principally supported, remarked that its supporters must recollect, and the house and the country must bear in mind that the question is not at present, whether, even at the expense of your character for good faith, you will consent to bear hereafter among mankind a stained reputation and forfeited honour; but whether for a little season of miserable, insecure, precarious, dishonourable, unbearable truce, whether for this precarious, disgusting, and intolerable postponement of hostilities, you will be content hereafter to have recourse to war when war can be no longer avoided, and when its horrors will fall upon you, degraded and ruined in character in the eyes of all the nations of Europe; and, what is ten thousand times worse degraded and ruined in your own. He contended that the burdens of the country, however oppressive, would be borne cheerfully through the impending struggle, if war should be the result, inasmuch as we were governed on wise, liberal, and truly English principles. Mr. Canning's reply to those who opposed the address was even more eloquent than his opening speech. Government was censured for allowing France to usurp and retain the occupation of Spain. In answer to this, Mr. Canning remarked, that when the French army entered Spain, we might if we chose have visited that measure by a war. But we were not then bound to interfere on behalf of Spain, as we now are bound to interfere on behalf of Portugal, by the obligation of treaty. And such a war would not in these days have been the proper method of restoring the balance of power, which varies as civilization advances and new nations spring up. To take a leaf from the book of European policy in the times of William III., or of Queen Anne, for supporting the balance now, would be to slight the march of events, and to regulate our policy by a confusion of facts. He continued:—"I admit that the entrance of a French army into Spain was a measure of disparagement to Great Britain; that it was a severe blow to the feelings of this country. One of the modes of redress lay in a direct attack on France through a war on the soil of Spain: the other was to make the possession of the Spanish territory harmless in rival hands; to make it worse than harmless, to make it injurious to be the possessor—the latter mode I have adopted. Do you think that for the disparagement of England we have not been compensated? Do you think that for the blockade of Cadiz England has not received a full recompense? I looked at Spain by another name than Spain: I looked on that power as Spain and the Indies; and so looking at the Indies, I have there called a new world into existence, and regulated the balance of power; thus redeeming the movement of France, and leaving her own act on her unmitigated and unredressed, so that she would now thankfully get rid of her responsibility, and shake off a burden too heavy to be borne without complaint. France would now be glad if England would assist her in dispensing with this burden; and the only way of riveting France to the possession of Spain, would be to make that possession a point of honour. I repeat it, the object of the present expedition is not war, but to take the last chance of peace. If England does not go promptly to the aid of Portugal, Portugal will be trampled on, England will be disgraced, and then war will come; come, too, in the train of degradation. If we wait until Spain has courage to ripen her secret machinations into open hostility, we shall have war; shall have the war of pacificators: and who can tell when that war shall end?" Mr. Canning's eloquence prevailed. Mr. Hume's amendment received the support of only three or four members; and the original question was carried with only that number of dissentients. A similar address was moved by Lord Bathurst in the upper house, and was carried with the same unanimity. The measure was, indeed, a popular one, not only in the walls of St. Stephen, but throughout the country. The prompt decision of government quickly effected the purpose intended. It was on the 11th that the king's message was delivered; and on the 14th 5,000 troops, under the command of Sir William Clinton, began to march towards the coast; and by the 25th the first detachment appeared in the Tagus. Their appearance in Portugal was sufficient. The treachery and dissimulation of Ferdinand gave way to his fears; the French government recalled the diplomatic instrument of its intrigues, and the independence of Portugal with its constitution was for a time preserved.

RESOLUTIONS AGAINST BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS.

By the dissolution of parliament the resolutions of Lord John Russell for detecting bribery at elections, which had been carried on the last day of the session, had expired. Under these circumstances they were moved anew by Lord Althorp, in doing which he said that he hoped the new house of commons would not now, by rejecting them, afford a singular contrast between the last session of an old parliament and the first session of a new one. In reply, Mr. Peel said, that if this new jurisdiction was to be created at all, it had better be created by a bill than by resolutions; if there were to be any interference, it would be wiser to make that interference effective, than to adopt a measure so imperfect and inoperative as these resolutions presented. Was it not, he asked, a serious consideration that the committee forming the tribunal before which this offence was to be tried, was without the power of administering an oath? Here was an imperfection and an evil for which the resolutions made no provision; and it was vain to hope that any measure could be salutary or effective in its operations if deficient in so important a point. Mr. Wynn also objected to the resolutions, deeming them, with Mr. Peel, insufficient for the purpose designed. Mr. Scarlett observed, that the resolutions might possibly not meet the difficulties which it was desirable should be overcome; but at the same time he thought the right honourable secretary had taken a partial view of the question. The resolutions, he said, were not altogether unexceptionable; but he was persuaded that they might be so far modified as to remedy the evil without going the length of inflicting a penalty or imposing costs, as Mr. Peel suggested, and which could be accomplished only by means of a bill. He added, that he thought they might be withdrawn, and re-introduced in an amended form; and Lord Althorp adopted, this suggestion, and withdrew the resolutions for the present. Subsequently Mr. Littleton again proposed the resolutions for the regulation of committees on private bills which had been passed by the late parliament, and they were all adopted.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

GEORGE IV. 1827—1828


     Death of the Duke of York..... Meeting of Parliament.....
     Catholic Question..... The Corn-laws..... Dissolution of the
     Ministry..... Re-assembling of Parliament..... Explanations
     of, and Hostility to the Ministry..... Opinions of His
     Majesty on the Catholic Question..... Motion on the
     Chancellor's Jurisdiction   in    Bankruptcy..... Motion
     regarding  the   Stamp    Duty and Cheap Publications.....
     The Corn-law Question..... Financial Statements..... Corrupt
     Boroughs..... The Game-laws..... The Court of Chancery.....
     Prorogation of Parliament..... Death of Mr. Canning.....
     Administration of Lord Goderich..... Review of Foreign
     Policy.

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF YORK.

A.D. 1827

The earliest public event of the year was the death of the Duke of York, the heir presumptive of the crown. His royal highness had been for some time seriously ill, and as far back as the month of July his disease had assumed the character of dropsy. The progress of the complaint had rendered an operation necessary in September; but though the result of the operation, aided by the effects of medicine, removed the constitutional complaint, its partial influence on the frame was followed by a mortification in the legs, which, assuming sometimes a more favourable, and sometimes a more alarming appearance, gradually weakened the whole system. His constitution sunk beneath the power of art which was intended to revive it: nature gave up the struggle on the 5th of January, his royal highness being in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His death was accompanied by sincere and universal regret; for though he had failings, they were hidden from the public gaze by his more prominent virtues. Seldom, indeed, have the public services of one so near the throne produced to the country so much solid and lasting good, as resulted from his long administration of the British army. His private character was also formed to conciliate personal attachments: he never made a personal enemy, nor lost a friend. Everyone who had intercourse with him was impressed with the kindness of his heart, kindness which appeared in all his actions. In a word, his public and private character excited one universal sentiment of respect and esteem. The soldier mourned over him as that of a benefactor to whom he was indebted for comfort, security, and respectability; and all other ranks of society joined in their lamentations over a prince whose personal qualities had been always popular, and to whom, in his public capacity, they felt that the empire owed a heavy debt of gratitude for all that he had effected for its safety and honour. His royal highness was succeeded as commander-in-chief by the only man in whom personal merit and the fullest confidence of the country were united—the Duke of Wellington.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament resumed its sittings on the 8th of February. One of its earliest measures was to vote an address of condolence to the king on the death of his royal brother, on which occasion all political asperity was forgotten in an unanimous expression of respect for the private character and official conduct of the deceased. Men of all parties, as Mr. Peel, Sir R. Wilson, Mr. Brougham, and others, paid the tribute of high respect to his memory. Mr. Brougham considered it no small praise to the Duke of York that, in his office of commander-in-chief, he never allowed his political principles to interfere in the discharge of the duties of his office; and Sir R. Wilson remarked, that it was worthy of observation that the improvement which he had effected in the discipline of the army was maintained without undue severity. On these improvements Mr. Peel dwelt at great length, clearly showing that the high state of discipline now existing in the British army was chiefly owing to the exertions of the deceased prince.

By the death of the Duke of York his next brother, the Duke of Clarence, became heir presumptive to the crown. Ministers embraced this opportunity of proposing an increase of £6,000 per annum to his income, as well as £3,000 as a jointure to his consort. This motion was strongly opposed by Lord Althorpe, and by Messrs. Hume, Brougham, and Abercromby. Mr. Hume contended that it was ungracious and inconsistent to be proposing an additional burden of £9,000 a year, so soon after a royal letter to the bishops had exhorted them to use all their influence in promoting charitable contributions for the relief of the starving population. He had himself recently presented a petition from the weavers of Blackburn, praying that something might be done which would provide them with food; and the answer given to their prayers was a vote for adding to their burdens. Unwilling, however, to do anything which might look like a reproach to the crown, he would not oppose the motion by a direct negative; but, in order to give ministers an opportunity of withdrawing it, he would move that the chairman should report progress, and sit again for the further consideration of the proposed grant. The principal plea of the opponents of the grant was, that no additional expenses were entailed on his royal highness; but it was finally voted by a majority of ninety-nine against fifteen.

CATHOLIC QUESTION.

At this period circumstances seemed peculiarly favourable to the claims of the Roman Catholics. The Duke of York was dead, Lord Liverpool was seriously ill, and the influence of Mr. Canning was all potent in the cabinet. Public attention had been fixed on this subject, from the opening of the session, more eagerly than any other which promised to occupy the attention of parliament; and petitions against their claims nightly covered the tables of both houses from the Protestant community. On the other hand, the Catholics were equally active; and at length, on the 5th of March, after having presented their general petition, Sir Francis Burdett brought the question before the house of commons. He moved—"That this house is deeply impressed with the necessity of taking into immediate consideration the laws inflicting penalties on his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, with the view of removing them." The speech which Sir Francis Burdett delivered on this occasion gave rise to a debate that lasted two nights. In the course of his speech, he remarked, that the claims of the Catholics rested on more undeniable grounds than were supplied by general justice, or by historical deductions—they had been secured to them by treaty. "Every hour," he said, "that the disqualifications were allowed to continue, was a new violation of our solemn engagements, and a breach of public faith. What, the Catholics asked, had been secured to them by the treaty of Limerick? The first article of that treaty was the following:—'The loyal Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles II.; and their majesties, so soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will endeavour to procure the said Roman Catholics such further security in that particular as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion,' Now he apprehended that Catholic peers sat in parliament in the reign of Charles II., so that here was an express stipulation for the benefit of Catholics generally. It was impossible to admit the interpretation put upon this provision by the opponents of the Catholic claims, as if its benefits had been limited to the persons besieged in Limerick; for strange, indeed, would it be, if those who held out longest in arms, and therefore did the greatest extent of mischief to the ruling powers, should yet be held to have been entitled to public favour. It was monstrous to suppose that this treaty related solely to the garrison of Limerick; for what said the 9th article?—'The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as submit to their majesties' government shall be the oath aforesaid and no other.' The oath referred to was the 'oath of allegiance,' and no other; and the article comprehended all submitting Catholics generally. But how had faith been kept with them? when it was by the exaction of new oaths, and nothing else, that they had ever since been excluded from the enjoyment of their proper privileges? But even if the interpretation that the men in arms alone were included were conceded, then their descendants (and they must have some) were, though Catholics, invested with these privileges. There necessarily must be some Catholics in the kingdom who were not excluded with the rest of their brethren: and where were they? But such a construction was trifling, contrary to all rules of logic, and all fair modes of reasoning. So far as the treaty of Limerick went, the case was conclusive: faith had been pledged, and faith had been broken." The treaty of Limerick thus brought forward by Sir Francis Burdett became the grand argument in the debate; and it was relied on both by those who favoured and those who opposed emancipation. In supporting the motion, Mr. Plunkett, the attorney-general for Ireland, said that it certainly did appear to him that at the time of signing the articles of the treaty of Limerick, the Roman Catholics of Ireland possessed certain important privileges; and amongst others the right of admission into parliament. The first article fully recognised their privileges, for it did not refer merely to the exercise of religious rights, but also to the enjoyment of such political privileges as they had exercised in the reign of Charles II., one of which was eligibility to sit in the Irish parliament. It was argued, he said, that this provision extended only to persons who were in the garrison; but the words of the article, which mentioned generally, and without reservation, "the Roman Catholics of this kingdom," sufficiently proved that it was meant to include the whole body of Irish Roman Catholics. One of the most powerful pleaders on the other side of the question was Mr. Peel, whose speech made a deep impression on the house. "If I could be satisfied that any of the privileges withheld from the Roman Catholics of Ireland, were so withheld in violation of the treaty of Limerick, it would very materially influence my judgment in deciding on the present question. But after having examined into this matter with the greatest attention, I feel a more perfect conviction that that treaty afforded the Catholics no claims to have their disabilities removed. There were various articles in the treaty of Limerick, the first referring to the Roman Catholic gentry and the others to the inhabitants of Limerick generally. Now what he meant to contend was, that political privileges were never in the contemplation of either of the parties to the treaty. It had been contended that the passage in the first article, which stated that the Roman Catholics should be allowed the free exercise of their religion without disturbance or molestation, in the same manner as they had been allowed it in the reign of Charles II., meant that they were not to be subjected to any disabilities on account of their religion. Now, with regard to the construction which was to be put on these terms, it appeared from every writer of that age, that, by the free exercise of their religion, was merely meant toleration instead of political power. That such was the meaning of the expression was clearly proved from the mouth of King William, one of the parties to that treaty, who, shortly after the making of it, stated that he was willing to grant to the Catholics the undisturbed exercise of their religion, but not political power: that they should enjoy freedom with respect to their persons and estates, and the exercise of their religion; that with that they ought to be satisfied; and that he could not comprehend how, when they enjoyed this, they could feel themselves justified in disturbing the quiet of the kingdom. The true construction of the treaty, as proved at the very time of making it, was not that which was now put upon it by the friends of Catholic emancipation." With regard to the general question Mr. Peel confessed that he distrusted the Roman Catholics. He remarked:—"I do not find fault with the faith of any man, and I think quite as highly of a Catholic as of a Protestant; but if on a man's faith there be founded a scheme of political influence, then we have a right to inquire in to that scheme. And I cannot contemplate the doctrines of absolution, of confession, and of indulgences, without having a strong suspicion that these doctrines are maintained for the purpose of confirming the authority and influence which man exercises over man. What is it to me, whether that authority be called spiritual, or otherwise, if practically it influence man in his conduct in society? Is it because religious doctrines are made subservient to worldly and political purposes, that they are therefore to be excluded from the consideration of the legislature in the discussion of the present question? On the contrary, if the authority derived from these doctrines be only the stronger on account of their being borrowed from religion, and misapplied to worldly purposes, that, in my opinion, furnishes an additional motive for closely investigating the doctrines themselves. When I find the pope issuing bulls to the Irish Catholic bishops, and such documents sent forth to four or five millions of people who possessed not the advantages of education, I must say that they are very likely to influence their practice in life. When I hear, too, such doctrines ascribed to a desire to support the pure faith of Christianity, I cannot help having a lurking suspicion that they are rather intended to maintain a spiritual authority capable of being applied to temporal purposes, which has been said to be extinct, but which I contend, is still existing. In 1807 Pope Pius VII. sent to the Catholic bishops of Ireland a bull, which granted an indulgence of three hundred days to all those persons who should with devout purpose repeat a certain ejaculatory address; and by the same instrument another indulgence of one hundred days was granted, for the repeating of a certain other formula, both of them applicable to souls in purgatory. It is painful to think that such a mockery should be made of religion, in order to press the authority of man; it is disgusting to find such things sent by rational men to rational men, to be disseminated amongst an illiterate and fanatical populace. The friends of emancipation may ridicule, if they choose, the indications of a new reformation which now show themselves in Ireland; but so long as free discussion is allowed, and such means as these are used as means of influence over the ignorant multitude, nothing will deter pious persons from doing all in their power to counteract and undermine such influence. The gentlemen of the Catholic Association will soon find that their political discussions have reacted on the public mind; that a spirit of inquiry has gone forth on the subject of their religion. I have no objection to the professors of the Catholic religion as individuals; I quarrel not with their religious tenets as a system of faith; but I am jealous of the political system which is ingrafted on those tenets, and I think I have a perfect right on the present occasion to consider what has been the influence of that political system in different countries. I do not desire to look at this point as it is to be found illustrated in ancient councils, or in times when bigotry and superstition were prevalent throughout the world; but, viewing the effect of the Catholic religion as it exists in the present day in various co un tries, in some where it luxuriates in undisputed growth, in those where it is only struggling for supremacy, and in others where it is subordinate to another and a purer system, contemplating it under those different aspects, the result of my observation is, that it is expedient to maintain in this kingdom the mild, mitigated, and temperate predominance of the Protestant church." With regard to the question as to whether the concessions demanded would restore tranquillity to Ireland, Mr. Peel said that he could not make up his mind to believe that the removal of the disabilities of the Roman Catholics would be attended by such a consummation. If they gained power, he said, they would naturally wish to better the condition of their religious system, to extend its influence over the country, and to draw it into closer connexion with government. The consequence of the change would be to bring the Catholic and Protestant religions into collision in such a manner, as might prove the destruction of the latter. And what greater evil, he asked, could be conceived than the confusion which must prevail for ages during the conflict? If, indeed, he could be persuaded that by concession tranquillity would be restored in Ireland, although he believed that the admission of their claims would endanger our constitution, he would sacrifice his apprehensions of the ultimate result to the attainment of the present benefit. But he could not make up his mind to believe that it would have any such effect. If the friends of emancipation proposed, after having carried their point, to make the religion of the great majority, the religion of the state of Ireland, and open to them all its high offices, he could understand how such a line of policy might appease and tranquillize the Catholics. But this they disavowed. Yet if they proposed to maintain the Protestant establishment as that of the state, there would still be a barrier which the Catholics would endeavour to remove. After passing a censure on the Catholic priesthood for the undue interference exercised at the late elections, and making some observations on the neglect shown by their prelates in restraining such interference, and on the extraordinary asperity of Dr. Doyle's publications, Mr. Peel concluded thus:—"I have now discharged a most painful duty, the opposing the resolution before the house. I have felt that I had no choice but to state with firmness, but I trust without asperity, the principles which my reason dictates, and which honour and conscience compel me to maintain. The influence or some great names, of some great men, has lately been lost to the cause which I support; but I never adopted my opinions upon it from deference either to high station or to high ability. Keen as the feelings of regret must be, with which the loss of these associates is recollected, it is still a matter of consolation to me, that, in the absence of these individuals I have now an opportunity of showing my adherence to those tenets which I formerly espoused; of showing that, if my opinions be unpopular, I stand by them still, when the influence and authority that may have given them currency are gone; and when it is impossible, I believe, that, in the mind of any human being, I can stand suspected of pursuing them with any view to favour or personal aggrandisement." The motion was also opposed by Sir John Copley, master of the rolls, in a long, learned, eloquent, and argumentative speech. In his opinion the whole question was one of expediency, and if the concessions demanded could be granted with safety to the civil liberties and to the religious faith of the Protestant community, he admitted that the Catholics were intitled to them. He denied, however, that any such securities had been or could be offered, A blank and bare proposal of concession, he remarked, which neither acknowledged the necessity, nor contained even the elements of such securities, could not be entertained by the house, if it did its duty to the constitution, the religion, and the feelings of the country. Several departed statesmen, he said, had declared in the most decisive terms their determination not to grant Catholic emancipation without special and efficient securities; and the present secretary for foreign affairs himself, and the Irish attorney-general had uttered sentiments to the effect, that it could not be granted unless adequate securities were given to protect the country against the dangers of foreign interference. It became the house, also, he said, to consider well if the concessions are made, what are the feelings of that body of men who should be returned as members of parliament towards the Protestant church for which they would be called upon to legislate. He thought those feelings could not be learned more correctly than from the language of Dr. Doyle, who thus described the church of Ireland:—"She is looked up to, not as the spouse of the Redeemer, but as the handmaid of the ascendancy. The latter, whenever she becomes insolent or forgets her rank, if rank it may be called, rebuke her into a deportment more becoming her situation. They extend their protection to her for their own advantage only; and she, working alternately on their hopes and fears, continues to hold her place as a necessary appendage of the family to which she owes her existence. When indulged, she is indolent; when rebuked, she becomes attentive; she draws tight or relaxes her discipline as it may please, or be determined by her masters. Her eye is ever fixed upon her own interests, and she deems nothing forbidden or unhallowed which may serve to promote them. As those who do an injury can never forgive, she is implacable in her hostility to the church which she supplanted; and at this day, she seems indifferent to all things else, but to the concealment of her riches, and the persecution of popery. She occasionally revolts against her fellow-servants, who lay bare her spoils, who tell of her frauds and oppressions, who remind her of her origin, and upbraid her with the profligacy of her misspent life. But she is much more frequently employed in forming offensive and defensive leagues with her fellows in the corporations, showing the advantages of injustice and oppression, in confounding the charter of her servitude with the title-deeds of her employers, in asserting her claim to a tithe of the land and labour of the kingdom, and proving to the satisfaction of the Christian community that, though she receive the patrimony of the poor, she is not bound to exercise towards them a single act of mercy." Such language as this, said Sir J. Copley, is not confined to the individual who used it; the same sentiments are avowed by some of the leading men of the Catholic body, and proclaimed aloud in the Catholic Association. He asked, therefore, when such are the sentiments of a Roman Catholic bishop when speaking of that establishment for which Catholics, elected probably by his influence, would be called to legislate, whether the house would consent that such men, returned by such influence, should have the power of legislating for a church thus described by one of their own communion, without insisting upon securities by which all danger might be averted? The debate was closed by Mr. Canning, who had been pointedly alluded to throughout the whole of Sir J. Copley's speech, and, after disposing of its argument, he ironically vindicated himself for not having concerted measures of security with the Pope of Rome. Government had not the same facilities, he said, with the court of Rome as was possessed by several foreign courts, as those of Prussia, Saxony, and the Netherlands. He had seen in some popular tracts, that to correspond with the pope was high-treason; and, therefore, when his holiness addressed a complimentary note to our present gracious sovereign, he, as secretary of state, took the opinion of the great law-officers on the subject of a reply; and they declared that if he did answer the pope's letter, he would incur the penalties of a premunire. Now the law-officers who gave this opinion were R. Gifford and Sir John Copley himself. I, being an ignorant person, next looked into Burn's Justice, and there I found that the penalties attached to a premunire, were attainder, forfeiture of goods, incapacity to bring an action, and liability to be slain by any one with impunity. As this was a matter touching life and fortune, therefore he could not be expected, after having acquired such knowledge, to go to the Pope of Rome; and yet to the pope they must go if they would have any security. Mr. Canning declared that it was the intention of Mr. Pitt to cany this question, to the truth of which assertion he was ready to depose before any tribunal. He avowed his opinion that the cause had lost ground in the house as well as in the country; b\it he was convinced that all unfavourable impressions must give way to the effect of repeated discussions; that which right reason, humanity, and justice demanded could not fail to find an echo in the breasts of Englishmen. On a division the motion was lost by two hundred and seventy-six against two hundred and seventy-four. In consequence of this result, the order of the day in the house of lords, for taking into consideration the Catholic petition, was discharged on the motion of Lord Lansdowne, "who feared to increase, in the present state of feeling in Ireland, the disastrous conviction that a majority of both houses in parliament was opposed to a consideration of the claims of their Catholic brethren."

THE CORN-LAWS.

Ministers had pledged themselves to bring the corn-law question before the house this session; and great anxiety was felt throughout the nation on this subject. It had been originally intended to introduce the subject simultaneously in both houses; but the illness of Lord Liverpool prevented it being brought forward in the upper house. Mr. Canning introduced the subject in the commons on the 1st of March, when he expressed his surprise that so much of hostile feeling should have been allowed to enter into the consideration of a question where none ought to have been found, and that this asperity should arise where there was no necessity to fly to extremes, and where the difficulties, in point of fact, were less than they were stated in argument. Every body admitted, he said, the necessity of protecting the agricultural interests; the only question was the mode and degree in which the protection should be administered. Of late years three modes of protection, without prohibition, had been proposed: the first, that of Mr. Ricardo, which imposed a duty of 20s. per quarter, to be diminished every year till it should have reached a minimum of about 10s.; the second proposed to begin with a duty of 16s., to be gradually lowered to 10s.; and the third was to impose a duty of 15s, or 16s. once for all, without any reference to the price. All these plans he been devised by persons generally favourable to a free trade in corn; but to all of them there lay the objection that when a pressure came it would bring with it distress to the agriculturists. Experience, he said, proved, that to impose a fixed duty without any reference to the variation of prices was objectionable and insufficient, because it was inevitably sometimes too high, and at other times too low with reference to the state of the country. It was therefore more advisable to adopt a scale of duties, which should vary in a relative proportion to the state of the country. He moved that—"Whenever the average price of wheat made up and published in manner required by law, shall be 60s., and under 61s. per quarter, the duty shall be for one quarter £1. And in respect of every integral shilling, by which such price shall be above 60s., such duty shall be decreased by 2s., until such price shall be 70s. Whenever such price shall be at or above 70s., the duty shall be for every quarter Is. Whenever such price shall be under 60s., and not under 59s., the duty shall be for every quarter £\. 2s. And in respect of each integral shilling, or any part of each integral shilling, by which such price shall be tinder 59s., such duty shall be increased by 2s." Mr. Canning moved resolutions similar to the above on barley, oats, rye, peas, beans, wheat-meal, and flour, oatmeal, maize, &c. If the produce of, and imported from any British possession in North America, or elsewhere out of Europe, he moved that wheat should be admitted at 5s. per quarter, until the price of British wheat should be 65s. per quarter; and that whenever such price should be at or above 65s., the duty should be for every quarter only 6d. Similar resolutions were also moved on other grains coming from the same parts of the world. Mr. Canning's last resolution on this subject was, "That it is the opinion of this committee, that all the said duties shall be regulated and determined from week to week by the average prices of corn, made up in the manner required by law; which prices shall, at the several ports of the United Kingdom, determine the several rates of the said duties for and during the week next after the receipt of the proper certificates of such average prices at such ports respectively." The debate on these resolutions was postponed for a week, that every appearance of precipitancy in such an important measure might be avoided. When the discussion was resumed, the motion for the house going into committee was opposed by Lord Clive, Sir E. Knatchbull, and other leading members of the landed interest. Their opposition rested on the grounds that domestic agriculture was entitled to all the protection which parliament could give it, even in the shape of a prohibition; that it was unjust to expose the home-grown, oppressed with taxes, and obliged to purchase costly labour, to a competition with the farmers of foreign countries, where taxation was light and labour cheap; that the plan was only experimental in its nature, in a matter where all experiment was mischief; that its effect would be to reduce prices much below what could be considered a fair remunerating price to the grower; and that, while it thus deprived the agriculturist even of the imperfect protection which he at present enjoyed, it would ultimately prove injurious to the public welfare, by throwing poor lands out of cultivation, thus leaving the country at every moment dependent for its food on foreigners. The chancellor of the exchequer and Mr. Peel replied, and the opposition to the speaker's leaving the chair was not pressed to a division. In the committee, however, an amendment was moved to the effect of raising the medium price by taking 64s. instead of 60s. as the point at which what might be considered the prohibitory duty of 20s. should attach, on which the house divided. But this was lost; and an amendment, proposed by Mr. Whitmore, for an exactly opposite purpose, namely, to reduce the medium price at which the duty of 20s. should attach, shared the same fate. During the progress of the bill through the committee other alterations were likewise proposed, almost all tending to the benefit of the home grower. Thus it was proposed to raise the medium price of rye, peas, and beans, from 35s. to 40s.; to lower the quantity of oatmeal, on which, as being equivalent to a quarter of oats, a given duty should be paid from one hundred and ninety lbs. to one hundred and seventy-six lbs.; and a similar attempt was made to raise the duty on wheat-flour. All these amendments were lost; but ministers themselves, from the representations of county meetings both in.'England and Scotland, raised the medium price of barley to 32s., and the duty to 12s.; and the medium price of oats from 21s. to 25s., and the duty to 8s. This concession to the agriculturists gave great offence to those who advocated free trade. Mr. Wood told ministers that they had allowed themselves to be bullied by them; to which Mr. Peel calmly answered, that he did not see how a proper and justifiable addition of 2s. to the price of barley could require such an extravagant expenditure of indignation and abuse. The report was brought up on the 27th of March; and the resolutions were carried, after a division on an amendment moved by Mr. Hume. A bill founded on them was brought in; and on the second reading the opposition to it on the part of the landed interest was renewed with undiminished hostility. Sir Thomas Lethbridge described the bill as one which ought to be entitled, "An act for the more effectual encouragement of speculation in the corn-trade, the more rapid diminution of the growth of grain in Great Britain, and the better encouragement of the growth of grain in other countries for the supply of the British market." He moved as an amendment, that the bill should be read a second time on that day six months; and its supporters gave ministers to understand that the success of the bill would deprive them, in regard to certain other questions connected with expenditure, of the customary support of their most valued friends. If the price of corn was reduced, they said, everything else ought equally to be reduced. Were ministers then ready, they asked, to reduce the taxes? The defence of the bill was chiefly undertaken by Mr. Grant, the vice-president of the board of trade, who entered into an elaborate view of the whole question. Possessing, as the landowners did, the law of 1815, it was necessary, he said, to show some good reason for the change proposed; and he found a most satisfactory reason in the fact that the law had failed in every one of the objects which had been contemplated in its enactment. The intention of that law had been to effect three objects; namely, uniformity of price, protection to the farmer, and independence of foreign supplies; but it was notorious that the law had not answered any one of these purposes. The amendment was pressed to a division; and the second reading of the bill was carried by a majority of two hundred and forty-three to seventy-eight. It subsequently passed a committee with no other alteration than a clause, authorizing the king to prohibit, by an order in council, the importation of grain from any country where British vessels should be subject to a higher duty than was imposed on the vessels of such country coming to British ports. The bill was finally read a third time, and passed on the 12th of April, on which day the house adjourned for the Easter holidays.

DISSOLUTION OF THE MINISTRY.

About the middle of February the Earl of Liverpool was suddenly attacked by a paralytic stroke. By the end of March his case became hopeless, and Mr. Canning was summoned at that time by the king to Windsor. It was well known that dissensions existed in the cabinet, and that serious difficulties were created by a large portion of it, hostile in the highest degree to Mr. Canning. At the same time a majority of the commons, as well as of the people at large, called upon him to take up the mantle of the premier, and to direct the councils of Great Britain. Mr. Canning was called to this interview with the king merely in his capacity of privy-counsellor, to assist the king in the re-construction of the cabinet. He recommended that a ministry should be formed unanimous in the rejection of Catholic emancipation; to forward which arrangement he professed his own willingness to retire from office. This advice had the appearance of great disinterestedness and self-denial; but Mr. Canning must have known that it was utterly impracticable: those, indeed, on whom it would have thrown the responsibility of government saw the embarrassment such an arrangement would produce, and instantly rejected it. His majesty now proposed that the plan of administration should be unchanged; and that some anti-Catholic peer should be appointed premier, to prevent such increase of adherents to the Catholic cause as a minister of that rank, being its known advocate, would necessarily promote. To this arrangement, however, Mr. Canning objected, declaring that he would never degrade himself by forming part of an administration which considered a person entertaining those views which he entertained concerning the Catholic question as disqualified to fill the highest office in the state. By this declaration, in effect, Mr. Canning made known to the king that his services could only be secured by the highest office; and it seems quite clear from other circumstances that such was his aim. But this resolution was the cause of breaking up the Liverpool cabinet. At the same time Mr. Canning obtained the object of his ambition: aided by the general voice, he was made premier. His exaltation, however, was the signal of retreat to other members of the cabinet. Mr. Peel had previously declared that if such an event took place he should decline office; and Lord Eldon resigned, ostensibly on account of his advanced age, but in reality on Mr. Peel's principles, namely, that he could not co-operate with a friend to Catholic emancipation as premier. On the 12th of April the king had received, in addition to these, the resignations, also, the Duke of Wellington, and Lords Bexley, Westmoreland, and Bathurst. Nevertheless, the king confirmed the appointment of Mr. Canning; and it was announced in the house of commons on the same evening, where it was received with deafening shouts of applause. Mr. Canning now proceeded to reconstruct the cabinet. The new ministers were, the Duke of Clarence, as lord high-admiral of England; Lord Anglesea, as master-general of the ordnance, with a seat in the cabinet; Lord Dudley, Mr. Sturges Bourne, and Mr. Robinson, nominated respectively for the foreign, home, and colonial departments; the Duke of Devonshire, as lord-chamberlain; the Duke of Portland, as privy-seal; and Lord Harrowby, as president of the council. Lord Bexley retracted his resignation and retained office; and Lord Palmerston, with Messrs. Huskisson and Wynne, likewise remained in the cabinet. Sir John Leach, Sir Anthony Hart, and Sir James Scarlett, were respectively made master of the rolls, vice-chancellor, and attorney-general. Mr. Canning occupied the two offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. A negociation had been opened with the Marquis of Lansdowne to supply several places; but no official appointments resulted from it, although a large body of Whigs offered their support to the administration. The new ministry was gazetted on the 27th of April; and on the 30th his majesty held a court, at which Lords Eldon, Westmoreland, and Bathurst, as well as Mr. Peel, severally had audiences to resign their seals of office; and the new ministers kissed hands on their appointments. Mr. Canning was loudly cheered by the populace in going to and returning from the palace; but he soon discovered that his high office was not a bed of roses. "The premiership had for twelve years been a bed of slumber; it now fell into the hands of one who made it a bed of feverish anxiety and bitter wakefulness,—George Canning, the first debater, the most dexterous politician, and the happiest wit of the house; the most perplexed, unhappy, and disappointed of ministers."

REASSEMBLING OF PARLIAMENT.

The house of commons reassembled on the 1st of May. So much time, however, had been lost through the dissolution of the old administration, and the hostility of parties now consumed so much time, that very little business was completed during the session. At its meeting the public were eager to learn something of the causes which had separated men who had acted so long together in good and in evil report, and which had accomplished an union between parties and individuals whose contest had generally been a war to the death. The public had not to remain long on the tiptoe of expectation, for no sooner had the house met than the strife of words commenced.

EXPLANATIONS OF MEMBERS, AND HOSTILITY TO THE MINISTRY.

On the motion that a new writ should issue for the borough of Ashburton, for the election of a member in place of Mr. S. Bourne, Mr. Peel said, that as the motion was connected with the succession to that office which he had resigned, he trusted that the house would allow him the opportunity of explaining the grounds on which he had retired from the situation of secretary of state, disclaiming at the same time all intention of opposing the new government, and carrying himself free from every appearance of a factious spirit. He remarked:—"I retired from office because, from the first moment of my public life, I have taken an active and decided part on a great and vital question, that of the extension of political privileges to the Roman Catholics. For eighteen years I have constantly offered an uncompromising, but, I hope, a temperate, fair, and constitutional resistance to every proposition for granting to them any further concessions. My opposition is founded on principle. I think the continuance of those bars which prevent the acquisition of political power by the Catholics necessary for the maintenance of the constitution, and for the interests of the established church. It is not merely that my honourable friend differs in opinion from me on this important question, but the change in administration occasions the transfer of all that influence and power which belongs to the office of a prime minister into the hands of one who will use it for the purpose of forwarding an object which I have always resisted. It is not a transfer of that influence and power from one ordinary man to another ordinary man, but from the most able opponent of the Catholic claims to their most zealous and eloquent advocate." Mr. Peel then vindicated the course taken by his late colleagues in resigning office; the act, he said, was "a splendid example of disinterested conduct to all public men." He vindicated them from the charge of acting in concert, or in the spirit of cabal; declaring that he not only did not hold any communication with the lord-chancellor, as had been said, but that he did not even know hip lordship's intentions The very first person, he said, to whom I stated my inability to acquiesce in the appointment of my right honourable friend as prime minister, was my right honourable friend himself; and I did not then known the intention of any other member of the administration. He added:—"A separation from my right honourable friend, with whom I have acted so cordially on every point but one, is to me a source of deep regret, mitigated, however, in some degree by the recollection that I have done everything becoming my character to prevent it. I retire from the service of my sovereign without any personal regret, except upon one point, namely, that I can no longer avail myself of those opportunities which office afforded of introducing a system of improvement into the existing laws. To effect that object is the chief desire of my life; and I have the satisfaction of reflecting that, during the five years I have held the office of home-secretary, every institution coming under my immediate cognizance has been subject to such reforms as were considered advantageous and useful. I have likewise the satisfaction of recollecting that every law which I found on the statute-book at my entrance into office, imposing extraordinary restrictions on the liberties of the subject, has been either modified or altogether repealed. I may be a Tory, but I have the satisfaction of observing that such has been my conduct. Tory, as I am, it is gratifying to me to reflect that no law stands on the statute-book, in connection with my name, which has not for its object the mitigation of the severity of the criminal law, and the prevention of any abuse in the administration of justice." This speech was received with loud cheers, and elicited much applause from Mr. Brougham, who at the same time declared his determination to support the policy of the new administration. On the contrary, Mr. Dawson, a brother-in-law to Mr. Peel, and late under-secretary for the home department, damaged his reputation by his explanation, inasmuch as he allowed himself to get into a passion with the premier. Mr. Dawson insisted that Mr. Canning was bound to declare immediately what he intended to do with the Catholic question, and also to bring it forward without delay. In reply Mr. Canning said, that throughout a continued intercourse with Mr. Peel he had uniformly found his conduct distinguished by the same feeling and high principle which were so strongly pourtrayed in the speech he had just delivered; he had behaved, he said, throughout with manliness and candour. He continued:—"The house is greatly mistaken if they imagine my situation to be one of gratified ambition. From the beginning of the discussions on the Catholic claims I felt that the separation of my honourable friend and myself was inevitable, and not far remote. Would to God I could now persuade myself that his retirement will be but for a short time! Had the necessity which has made the retirement of one of as inevitable been left in my hands, my decision would have been for my own resignation, and against that of my right honourable friend. My first object was to quit office; my next to remain in it, with all my old colleagues exactly—exactly on the same terms as usual regarding this very Catholic question." Mr. Canning then went into a long detail concerning the circumstances which preceded his appointment; and he concluded with saying,—"I sit where I now do by no seeking of my own. I proposed at first my own exclusion: it was not accepted. Then conditions were offered to me, which I refused, because they were accompanied by an admission of my own disqualification, to which if I had submitted, I should have been for ever degraded. In the year 1822 I was appointed to an office fraught with wealth, honour, and ambition. From that office I was called, not on my own seeking, but contrary to my own wish; and I made a sacrifice—a sacrifice, be it remembered, of no inconsiderable nature to a poor man—and the offer of a share in the administration was made to me without any stipulation. But if that offer had been made with this condition, that, if the highest place in the administration should become vacant, the opinions which I held on the Catholic question were to be a bar to my succeeding to it, I would turn the offer back with the disdain with which I turned back that of serving under a Protestant premier, as the badge of my Helotism, and the condition of my place." The only parties left to explain their conduct were those members of opposition who had quitted their former station and were settled beside the new ministry. This duty was discharged by Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Brougham. Their support was defended by Sir Francis as likely to promote enlightened principles of government both at home and abroad, and especially the cause of religious liberty. He had no doubt but the country would soon be operated upon by sentiments of sound policy, justice, and liberality. Mr. Brougham maintained that he and his party, in supporting the present ministry, were acting consistently, as well as disinterestedly. For himself, he said, he had quitted a situation, eminent beyond his hopes or merits, on the opposition benches, where he was surrounded by one of the largest, one of the most honourable, and one of the most disinterested oppositions ever known in the house, an opposition consisting of men who do what they think best for their country; though in doing so they should feel sure that they were helping to confirm their adversaries in office. "I have quitted this station, enough to satisfy the ambition of the proudest man, under arrangements which made my own acceptance of office impossible. My opinions on foreign and domestic policy have led me to this step with the sincere desire of furnishing a useful assistance to the liberal sentiments of Mr. Canning—including the Irish question. Not that I am for giving it that prominent situation in the public councils which is required by some; but I wished that it should derive every possible advantage from the junction of the two parties which have divided the house and the country, but are now united in a cordial, hearty, and uniform support of such measures as should be deemed best for the country."

The house of lords met on the 2nd of May; and in that branch of the legislature more explanations were given than in the house of commons. On the first opportunity Lord Eldon declared that the accusations made against him, of having attempted an unconstitutional dictation to his sovereign, was a base and scandalous falsehood. His opinion was, and always had been, that if the claims of the Catholics were conceded, there was an end of the religious liberties of this country, and that with its religious liberties its civil freedom would perish. Holding such opinions as these it was impossible for him to coincide with the views of the new minister, whether those views were immediately to be carried into execution, or suspended for the better securing of his purpose. Could he, he asked, honestly remain in office under an administration formed on principles at variance with his own? He could not allow that the new administration had been formed on principles similar to that of Lord Liverpool. That nobleman had been a zealous, honest, and candid opponent of the Catholic claims; but the present premier would be as zealous in supporting them. As to the mode of his resignation, his lordship wholly disclaimed the imputation of having concerted it with Mr. Peel; that gentleman, for whom he entertained the highest regard and esteem, knew nothing about his sending in his resignation; and he believed the same to be the case with every other minister who had retired. As the retirement of the Duke of Wellington, not only from the administration, but from the command of the army, which was not a cabinet office, seemed to indicate hostility of a more decided character than that of any other seceder, it had excited greater interest. On both these points his grace entered into a full and manly explanation. After adverting to the press which had endeavoured to blacken his character, he remarked, that he was not requested to come and receive explanations concerning evident omissions in the letter first sent to him, nor was he referred to any person for information on these points; although, as he afterwards learned, his colleagues had been invited to go to the minister, and receive any explanations which they might require, or the minister himself had gone to them. Still he would not let any pique of this kind stop an amicable communication, and in that spirit he carried on his correspondence, and wished to contrive means of continuing in his majesty's councils. When, however, he found that the right honourable gentleman was to be at the head of affairs, he doubted whether he could, consistently with his principles, join the administration; and under these circumstances he declined office. He considered that the principles of Lord Liverpool's policy had been abandoned, and that the measures of a government constituted on the principles of Mr. Canning's sentiments would be viewed with suspicion by foreign governments, and would give no satisfaction to the country; and therefore he requested Mr. Canning to communicate to his majesty that he wished to be excused from forming a part of the new cabinet. Would he not, he asked, have degraded himself, and deceived the public, if he had sat in a cabinet with a gentleman at its head whom he felt bound to oppose? It was no answer to tell him that the present cabinet acted upon the same principles with that of which Lord Liverpool had been at the head. The two cabinets materially differed: that of Lord Liverpool was formed on the principle of maintaining the laws as they now were, whilst that of Mr. Canning was founded on the principle of subverting them. "Those," remarked his grace, "who formed part of Lord Liverpool's cabinet knew well what it was to which they pledged themselves, for they knew that his lordship was conscientiously opposed to all changes in the existing form of government; but those who coalesced with Mr. Canning had no idea how far their coalition was to carry them,—for he was the most able, active, and zealous partisan of those changes with which the country was at present threatened. The principles of the noble earl were principles by which any man might safely abide; the principles of Mr. Canning fluctuate daily, and depend upon transitory reasons of temporary expediency. These are the conscientious reasons of my resignation." As for the absurd calumny, that he had threatened the king with his resignation unless he was made prime minister, the duke said it hardly deserved an answer. "Could any man believe," asked his grace, "that after I had raised myself to the command of the army, I would have given it up for any but conscientious reasons? I say, raised myself, because I know that, whatever his majesty's kindness had been towards me, he could not have exalted me through all the grades of military rank to the very highest if I had not rendered him and my country some service of which he entertained a high sense. Will any man then believe that when I was in a situation which enabled me to recommend to the notice of his majesty all my former friends and companions in arms, and to reward them according to their merits for the exertions which they had formerly made under my command in the field, I would voluntarily resign a situation so consonant to my feelings and habits for the mere empty ambition of being placed at the head of the government?" In regard to his resignation of the command of the army, his grace said, that although it was not a cabinet office, yet it was one which placed its possessor in a constant and confidential relation with the king and his government. With the prime minister the commander-in-chief is in communication every day, he has not a control even over the army, the chief direction of which is placed in the minister's hands; at the same time the premier himself cannot withdraw any part of the army from a foreign station without consulting the commander-in-chief; he cannot make up his budget, or introduce any reform into the organization of the army without seeking his opinion. No political sentiments, however, would have prevented him from retaining this office under ordinary circumstances, but from the tone and tenor of the communications he had received from his majesty, from the nature of the invitation given to him by the right; honourable gentleman in his first letter, and from the contents of the last, which he had received from Mr. Canning by his majesty's commands, he saw that he could not remain with credit to himself or advantage to the country: his line of conduct had not been hastily adopted, though he had been wantonly and unjustly abused. The other seceding peers justified their retirement generally on the same ground of political principles which had been taken by the Duke of Wellington, except that Lord Melville and Lord Bathurst expressed an opinion, that without such men as his grace, Lord Eldon, and Mr. Peel, no administration could be formed possessing sufficient stability and capacity for the government of the country. The task of defending the new administration fell to the lot of Lord Goderich, who declared that, so far from casting any imputation of conspiracy among, and cabal on his former colleagues, he believed that if there had been more communication among them, much of the mischief and disorder which had occurred might have been prevented. If the government was not constituted in a satisfactory manner, it was not the fault of either himself or his honourable and noble friends. Mr. Canning had sought to keep the elements of the late ministry together; but they had fallen away: and was he to say to his majesty, "I will run away, and leave you in such a predicament as no sovereign was ever placed in before?" The Marquis of Lansdowne finally explained the principles, and defended the propriety of the coalition of parties; and he justified it on the grounds which had been made in the lower house—the identity between the principles of his party and the spirit of the measures which government had for some time been pursuing, in regard both to foreign and domestic policy. From his statement it appeared that the overtures of alliance had come under the sanction of the king from the ministry; for, he said, when the individuals with whom the formation of a government rested brought to him his majesty's commands, he felt it no less his duty than his interest maturely to consider them, and that after this consideration he felt it his duty to obey them. The union which had taken place, he said, was not the result of a sudden impulse; for three years ago he had supported the just views of government in repairing the finances, widening the resources, improving the commerce and navigation of the country, and in cultivating relations of amity and friendship with that new world whose treasures were now opening to them. In conclusion, he admitted in their full extent the reasons which had been given by the noble lords for their several resignations, and the statements which they had made in accounting for that remarkable coincidence; but he could not help expressing his surprise that government had been able to go on so long, being conducted, as it now appeared, by ministers who did not think proper to communicate with one another upon the most important question which could be agitated among them. Other noble lords, as the Earls of Mansfield and Winchilsea, and Lord Ellenborough, expressed their determined hostility to the new government, and a total want of confidence in its leader. Lord Ellen-borough remarked, that it appeared clear to him, and he believed to others, that some deceit was about to be practised. Either his majesty, who had permitted this administration to be formed with the understanding that the Catholic question was to be given up, was deceived, or the hopes held out to Ireland, that the new administration was to extend to that country the peace and tranquillity which that boon alone could bestow, were fallacious. Earls Mansfield and Winchilsea expressed a determination of bringing the principles of the new cabinet at once to the test; and gave notice of motions on the Catholic question and the state of the nation. Neither of these motions, however, was ever brought to a hearing; and the retired ministers exhibited as little concert out of office as they had displayed in their resignation. In one matter, however, they were all agreed, that of hostility to the present government. In both houses a desultory warfare was carried on against it: single individuals taking upon themselves at intervals the task of castigating its members. In the commons Sir Thomas Lethbridge chiefly undertook this task; but, although he performed it with much pertinacity, he was unfortunately deficient in speech. In the lords the most powerful assistance on the side of the seceders was found in Lord Grey, who announced his want of confidence in the ministry. île gave, his lordship said, all due credit to those members of his party who coalesced with that ministry for disinterestedness, but he could see nothing in it which called for his support. It was said to be formed on the principle of Lord Liverpool's government. That principle consisted in the exclusion of the Catholic question: was the Catholic question then not to be made a cabinet measure? If so, his determination was taken; it would prevent him from giving support to the government. His lordship then reviewed the whole political career of Mr. Canning, and expressed himself opposed to every part of it; attacking with peculiar severity the noted declaration of the premier of calling the republics of the new world into existence. It was true, he said, that Mr. Canning was called a friend of civil and religious liberty, and that he supported Catholic emancipation, at the same time he proclaimed his opposition to a repeal of the test and corporation acts. He would not dwell on his known opposition to parliamentary reform; that question had not been so uniformly supported, nor had public opinion been so expressed in its favour as that any one should make it a sine qua non in joining an administration; but he could not conceal from himself the fact, that within a few years numerous laws had been passed hostile to civil liberty, every one of which had received the right honourable gentleman's dissent. Unless he could retrace his steps, and erase some that remained in the statute-book, no confidence ought to be reposed in him as a friend to civil liberty. His lordship added, that he differed from the known opponents of government on most questions as widely as the poles were asunder; but neither could he join those who supported it: the only course, therefore, left him was to pursue the same principles which he professed through life. When the measures of government agreed with those principles he would support them; when repugnant, they should have his opposition.

OPINIONS OF HIS MAJESTY ON THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

GEORGE IV. 1827—1828

The question of Catholic emancipation was soon set at rest for the present. In an interview which the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London had with his majesty, soon after Mr. Canning's elevation, he stated "that he was as firmly fixed as his father had been, in opposition to the pretensions of the papists." This declaration was made public in a meeting of prelates at Lambeth-palace, and announced by the bishop in the house of lords, so that it was evident that this was a measure not to be forced. On this declaration, indeed, the motions previously named, which would virtually have been a renewal of the discussion, were withdrawn, and the Catholic question was thereby laid aside for a time. The test acts, no less than Catholic emancipation had been a principal bond of union among the opposition; but neither was this urged; so that every subject which could have brought any party in the coalition to the test, was avoided. Under these circumstances, towards the close of the session some of the Whigs took office. Thus Lord Lansdowne was appointed secretary for the home department; Lord Carlisle, privy-seal; and Mr. Tierney, master of the mint. But about this time the opposition received a more regular form and abler direction. Hitherto Mr. Peel had acted with moderation and urbanity, but he now gave indications of decided hostility. In discovering this Mr. Canning said, that he rejoiced to see the standard openly raised: he always preferred direct hostility to hollow professions or pretended neutrality.

MOTION ON THE CHANCELLOR'S JURISDICTION IN BANKRUPTCY.

On the 22nd of May, Mr. Michael Angelo Taylor again brought the subject of delays in the court of chancery before the commons. The delays, he said, which disgraced that court, and the arrears of business under which it was sinking, were the consequences of the system of the court itself. An additional judge had in a former year been appointed, and yet the ar-rear of business had not been extinguished. To adopt the language of Mr. Shadwell, not three angels could discharge the duties of the office of lord-chancellor, constituted as that office now was. He proposed, therefore, to withdraw all matters of bankruptcy from the great seal: matters which had not originally been subject to that jurisdiction, but had been made so by parliament, and which were of themselves sufficient to occupy the attention of any single judge. He moved, therefore, "that this house do resolve itself into a committee of the whole house to consider of the statute of the 13th year of Elizabeth, and of certain subsequent statutes, which gave to the lord-chancellor of England jurisdiction in matters of bankruptcy." This motion was opposed by the attorney-general, Mr. Brougham, and Dr. Lushington, the former of whom vindicated the present system at great length. It was an unsound principle, he said, to make places fit to particular men. On the contrary, they ought to seek men fit to particular places; and it would be easy to show that, with three efficient judges, such as they had now got, there was not the least necessity of subtracting from the court of chancery any part of the jurisdiction which it at present possessed. He argued that there were more cases in the court of chancery than could be considered during the year, and that with the present judges in the court of chancery all those in arrear would be speedily dismissed. Mr. D. W. Harvey supported the motion, and entered into an exposition of the mischiefs of the bankrupt-law as at present administered by the commissioners, whom he described as being in general, either young men possessing capacity without experience, or briefless old men possessing experience without capacity, and to whom the appointment was an act of charity. Above all he complained of the inconsistency of those who now pretended that all the evils would be removed by the mere change of men, while the system must remain unchanged. All the splendid denunciations, he said, which had thrilled through every bosom in that house and in the country, were to be considered only as party tactics, were to be looked upon as the result of disappointed ambition. Professional advancement being obtained, those who had been most loud in their attacks upon the late Lord-chancellor Eldon, had now become the warmest eulogists of his merits. The house was now told, that, if in the vehemence of debate, anything had been said which was calculated to injure his character, it ought to be considered as nothing, as the mere accidental effusion of party spirit. It fell to the lot of Mr. Brougham to defend certain members from this charge of political delinquency, which he did with his usual tact, It had been said, he remarked, that a wondrous change was now visible in various members of parliament; that they were all opposed to the alterations in the court of chancery which they had formerly advocated; and that now being in office they had no objection to the arrangements of that court, though out of office they had poured forth against them torrents of fiery indignation. It was assumed, also, for the purpose of an unfair attack, that he himself, and those who thought with him, had changed their opinions on the subject. Now on what measure of government, on what chapter of policy, on what officer of state, on what judge of the land, had his opinions or principles changed? It had been said by those who contended that Lord Eldon was not to blame for the arrears in the court, that no man could get through the business. But if the business of the court had increased, the means of disposing it had likewise increased by the establishment of the vice-chancellor's court. But instead of having an efficient chancellor, vice-chancellor, and master of the rolls, there had always been either an unfit vice-chancellor, or an unfit master of the rolls, which left the court in the same situation as before the vice-chancellor's bill passed. But it was different now: they had as efficient a master of the rolls as could be required; and of the vice-chancellor he would say, that he had been one of the most experienced practitioners in the court of chancery. The new lord chancellor, also, was a person of great legal talents, and of an independent mind. From all this, he had a confident expectation that the business of the court would be despatched in proper time. On a division the motion was lost by a majority of one hundred and thirty-four against thirty-seven.

MOTIONS REGARDING THE STAMP-DUTY AND CHEAP PUBLICATIONS.

During the troubled state of the country in 1819 and 1820, certain legislative measures had been adopted, known by the name of the Six Acts, for the purpose of checking the course of sedition. Some of these had expired by the lapse of time; but one, which subjected cheap periodicals issued for the purposes of agitation to a stamp-duty still remained on the statute-book. On the 31st of May, Mr. Hume brought forward a motion for the repeal of this statute. He had intended, he said, to have made this motion during the preceding session, but he congratulated himself upon the delay, as the changes which had taken place in the government were favourable to the question he now advocated. But Mr. Hume soon found himself mistaken. Mr. Canning and others when in opposition had condemned this statute as a tyrannical and unwarrantable attack against the liberty of the press; but to a man they now resisted the motion, and abused and ridiculed the mover. It was lost by a majority of one hundred and twenty against ten.

THE CORN-LAW QUESTION.

The new corn-law, which had been sent to the house of lords before the recess, only furnished them with an opportunity of triumph. It had originated in the late cabinet of which the Duke of Wellington was a member; but notwithstanding this, he moved an amendment, prohibiting the removal of foreign corn from bond until the price of wheat should have reached sixty-six shillings per quarter. This proposal, though at variance with the principle of the bill, which provided for the admission of corn at all times on payment of a duty proportionate to the average market price, was supported by the high Tory party and peers, who preferred their own interests as landowners, so that ministers were left in a minority of one hundred and twenty-two to one hundred and thirty-three. The consequence of this amendment was, that, when the bill returned to the commons, ministers rejected it altogether; it being fatal, they said, to the principle of the bill, and inconsistent with its application. As for the supporters of the amendment they were abused both within and without the walls of St. Stephen, as men who had sacrificed the public good to forward the purposes of mere faction. Even Mr. Canning, imagining that the opposition was directed personally against himself, described the Duke of Wellington as a tool in the hands of more crafty intriguers. He could not, he said, exclude from his consideration that even so great a man as the Duke of Wellington had been made an instrument in the hands of others on that occasion. As to the members by which that amendment was carried, he asserted, that he believed it impossible that such discordant materials could have been brought together by a conviction of its merits. He looked upon the union not as arising from the merits of the question, but from some deep-rooted design to produce another effect in the other house, or that house, or elsewhere. There was no reason, however, to believe that this step arose from the spirit of faction as a whole; and Mr. Canning's language was, to say the least of it, indiscreet; language, which pique and provocation might account for, but which neither sound sense nor good feeling could justify. In consequence of the failure of this bill it became necessary to prevent a recurrence of that alarm which had arisen last year on account of scarcity. A temporary bill was therefore prepared and suffered to pass both houses, permitting the release of foreign corn from bond, on the same scale of duties as that proposed by the measure which had been abandoned.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

Mr. Canning brought forward the budget on the 1st of June. The method which he adopted in his statement, was, to state first the financial situation of the country at the end of the preceding year; then to combine and compare that one year with the several years which had preceded it; and finally, to suggest the provision to be made for the service of the present year, and the grounds on which he felt himself justified in looking forward with confidence to the result. By a review of income and expenditure during the four past years, it appeared from his statements, that, on an expenditure of £230,000,000, including the annual sinking-fund of £5,000,000, there was an apparent deficiency of £1,265,687. Against this, however, was to be placed the amount of advances from the exchequer, either in loans to carry on public works, or for beneficial purchases, which the public had in possession as available securities for repayment. The amount of excess in these advances for the four years, was near £2,000,000, so that in fact there remained about £1,100,000, as a real surplus of income beyond expenditure. Mr. Canning suggested the propriety of providing for the temporary deficiency by an issue of exchequer-bills. The supplies which he demanded for the year amounted to £57,500,000, including the sinking-fund; and the various items of which they were composed were all voted without opposition. At the conclusion of his statements Mr. Canning said, that he intended to bring the expenditure of the country to the lowest possible scale consistent with the public service, and that it was the determination of government to apply their best efforts to the matter, and to call the house into council on the subject. His financial statements, indeed, were made with such ability and candour, that they secured for him the confidence both of the house and the country.

CORRUPT BOROUGHS.

As is usual in the first session of a new parliament, the reports of election-committees disclosed scenes of gross bribery. Samples of corruption were brought before the house by Colonel Maberly and Mr. Sykes from the boroughs of Northampton and Leicester.

Enormous sums had been abstracted from corporation funds for the purpose of defraying the expenses o£ candidates for the boroughs. Colonel Maberly moved, with reference to the borough of Northampton, that a select committee be appointed to take into consideration the petition which had been presented to the house, complaining of the conduct of the corporation. The attorney-general, in reply, said, that if the case were really as it had been stated, and if the corporation had been guilty of the breach of trust mentioned, then there was an undoubted remedy in the court of chancery, and he argued that this was the ordinary and legal mode of obtaining redress in such cases. The motions, however, was supported by Messrs. Spring Rice, II. Gurney, and Abercromby, with Lords Althorp and Russell, on the ground that there was more in the case than the mere misapplication of funds. They argued that the purpose to which the funds had been misapplied directly affected the privileges and constitution of the house of commons; that the house would degrade itself if it sanctioned the attorney-general's going before any court, whether of law or of equity, to obtain the decision of that court on the propriety or power of the house to interfere in cases of this nature, and that the case was a fitting one to be investigated by a committee. The application of money for such purposes found an advocate in Mr. Peel, who asked, that if corporation funds should not be spent for any other than corporation purposes, what was to be said of that of London, which had recently voted £1000 to the Greeks? The real question before the house was, that supposing the corporation to have power to apply its funds to other than charitable purposes, had it a right to appropriate them to such a purpose as paying the legitimate expenses incurred in forwarding the election of a particular member of parliament? This was a question which merited deep consideration. Might a peer subscribe one, two, or five thousand pounds towards defraying such expenses?—might not a corporation do so too? He would not advise them to do it; but he was not prepared to say that in doing it they were acting illegally, or would be guilty of a breach of the privileges of the house of commons. He should suggest that a select committee be appointed simply to inquire into the payment, or engagements for payment, of any sum for electioneering purposes, made by the corporation of Northampton at the last election, which suggestion was adopted. Concerning the borough of Leicester, Mr. Sykes moved that a select committee should be appointed "to take into consideration the petition from the borough of Leicester, to examine witnesses, and to report to the house thereon." This motion was opposed by Messrs. C. Wynn and Peel, as a manifest attempt to evade the provisions of the Grenville Act, which might forthwith be repealed if motions of this nature were sanctioned. The petitioners, it was said, had taken legal advice on the subject, and finding that they had no case, they allowed the time limited by that act to elapse, and now demanded the special interference of the house. They found this mode of procedure more convenient than the former, under which they would have had to find security for costs in the event of the petition turning out to be frivolous, and would have been obliged at least to maintain their own witnesses. It was inconvenient, unjust, and degrading to the character of the house, it was asserted, to descend into the politics of borough elections, and that applications like this ought to be resisted. On the other hand, Sir Francis Burdett argued that if the petition were rejected, it would be viewed as indicating a want of that constitutional jealousy which should induce them to open their doors widely, instead of shutting them abruptly to complaints of this nature. The house, he said, was imperatively called on to investigate the circumstances connected with the offence. On a division, however, the motion was lost by a majority of ninety-two to sixty-eight.

A severer fate menaced some of the Cornish boroughs. Two of them appeared so pre-eminent in dishonesty, that the most determined advocates of the old system could not ward off retributive justice. A petition against the return for Penryn had been presented, and although corrupt practices could not be traced to the sitting members, yet the committee reported that the most gross and shameful bribery had prevailed. Mr. Legh Keck, chairman of the committee, was compelled by a sense of duty to move the following resolutions:—"That it appears to this house that the most notorious bribery and corruption were practised at the last election of members to serve in parliament for the borough of Penryn, and that such practices were not new or casual in the borough, the attention of the house having been called to similar practices in the years 1807 and 1819. That the said bribery and corruption deserved the most serious consideration of parliament. That leave be given to bring in a bill for the more effectual preventing of bribery and corruption in that borough." These resolutions were agreed to; the sitting members for Penryn only raising their voices against it, and a bill was ordered to be brought in in accordance with the third resolution. This bill having been read a second time, the house proceeded to examine further evidence in proof of the corruption. In that evidence there was much of mere belief, and much prevarication on the part of some of the witnesses; but the house came to the conclusion that a clear case of bribery and corruption had been established. The grand point, therefore, to consider was, the punishment to be inflicted, or the remedy to be applied. On that subject there was a diversity of opinions. Mr. Keck proposed the extension of the franchise to the hundreds, while Lord John Russell contended that the borough, like that of Grampound, should be disfranchised altogether. He moved as an amendment, "that the borough of Penryn shall be excluded hereafter from returning burgesses to serve in parliament." The original motion was supported by the ministry, who contended that though enough had been proved to call for the interference of the house, yet there was not sufficient to induce it to proceed to total disfranchisement. Mr. Canning remarked, that he thought it clear that a verdict of "guilty" must be given; but he did not think such a degree of guilt was established as would warrant the extinction of that which in its blameless exercise was a valuable possession, and the taking it entirely away from those who had exercised it innocently because others had abused it. He protested, however, against its being supposed that, in such a case as Grampound, he should feel any difficulty in erecting a new representation in lieu of that which might be taken away; and in giving his vote for the original motion, he would give it with reference to this particular case, avoiding the general question, and the general principles on which it was to be considered. The amendment was supported by Lords Althorp and Milton; by Messrs. Ferguson, Hobhouse, and Brougham; and by Sir John Newport. Such a case, they argued, had been made out that it would be an injustice to the constitution and to the principles on which the house had acted towards other places if Penryn were not disfranchised, and the right transferred elsewhere. The transfer of its privileges, they said, to the adjoining hundreds, would merely bestow them on a few wealthy individuals. On a division the amendment was carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-four against sixty-nine.

A petition had been presented against the return for East Retford, and the committee had reported that the sitting members were not duly elected; that the election was void, and that bribery had been general and notorious. Similar resolutions to those in the case of Penryn were adopted, therefore, in regard to this borough. The house resolved that no new writ should issue until the evidence should have been taken into consideration; and the result of that consideration was, that leave was given for a bill of disfranchisement. The session, however, closed before any effective proceedings were taken for the disfranchisement of either of these boroughs; but Manchester was generally looked to as a recipient of the forfeited privileges of Penryn, and Birmingham was held out as the place to which the franchise of East Retford would be transferred.

During this session Lord Althorp obtained the appointment of a committee to inquire into the mode of taking the poll at county elections; and Colonel Davies obtained a similar one to inquire into the mode of taking the polls at elections of cities and boroughs. The object of this inquiry was to get rid, if possible, of the enormous expense of electing, whether in county, city, or borough; for in many cases, as matters stood, it was only men of large fortunes who could venture to stand candidates. Lord Althorp likewise brought in and carried a bill for the better prevention of corrupt practices at elections, and for diminishing the expenses. His object was to prevent substantial bribery from being perpetrated under the mask of giving employment, and therefore to deprive all persons of the right to vote who should be employed by a candidate at the election. It was notorious, he said, that at elections different nominal offices were created, to be filled by voters who were classed as plumpers, and received double the pay of split votes. The provisions of the bill, however, were not to apply to any real and fair agent of a candidate, but to those who went under the spurious names of runners, flagmen, and musicians. On the suggestion of Mr. Spring Rice it was further determined to prohibit the distribution of riband and cockades. Both parts of the bill were opposed: the one as being unjust, and the other as frivolous; but the bill passed into a law. By its provision any person who, within six months before an election, or during an election, or within fourteen days after it, shall have been employed in the election as counsel, agent, attorney, poll-clerk, flagman, or in any other capacity, and shall have received in consideration of such employment any fee, place, or office, shall be incapable of voting at such elections; and that a penalty of £10 for each offence shall be inflicted upon every candidate, who, after the test of the writ, or if parliament be sitting, after the seat has become vacant, shall directly or indirectly give to any voter or inhabitant any cockade, riband, or any other mark of distinction. On the whole, therefore, a great step was taken this session towards the purification of elections; a branding mark, at least, was set upon shameless corruption.

THE GAME-LAWS.

During this session Lord Wharncliffe introduced a bill into the lords for altering the system of the game-laws. The provisions of this bill were threefold: first, it removed the absurd and contradictory qualifications of the old law, and substituted in their place the qualification of property, by permitting every proprietor to kill game on his own lands, whether great or small; secondly, it legalized the sale of game, as one great means of diminishing the temptations for poaching; and, thirdly, it mitigated the severity of the punishments provided by the existing law for certain offences against the game acts. This bill was allowed to be read a second time; but on the third reading it was lost by a majority of one. It had, however, scarcely been rejected when the Marquis of Salisbury introduced another, which proposed to empower all persons qualified by law to kill game to take out a licence, authorizing them to sell game to licensed dealers. This bill was likewise allowed to pass a second reading; but it was lost on a motion for the third reading by a majority of fifty-four to thirty-eight. One great alteration, however, was effected by a bill introduced by Lord Suffield, which abolished the practice of setting spring-guns and other engines of destruction for the preservation of game. This bill, which passed into a law, declared it to be a misdemeanour in any person to set a spring-gun, man-trap, or other engine calculated to kill, or inflict grievous injury, with the intent that it should destroy life, or occasion bodily harm to any trespasser or other person who might come into contact with it. An exception was made in favour of gins and traps for the destruction of vermin, and of guns placed in a dwelling-house between sunset and sunrise for the protection of that house. Scotland was excepted from the operation of the law; the six judges of the court of justiciary in that country having recently pronounced, in a case on which they had adjudicated of a man who had recently been killed by a spring-gun, that such killing, by the law of Scotland, is murder.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE CRIMINAL CODE.

Although out of office Mr. Peel still proceeded with his improvements of the criminal code. By his enlightened exertions five acts were passed, which consolidated into one body the whole law regarding offences against property, purified from an incredible quantity of ancient rubbish, and advantageously simplified in all its arrangements. The first of these five acts repealed about one hundred and thirty-seven different statutes, wholly, or in part, commencing with the charter De Foresta of Henry III., and ending with the session of 1826. The second statute removed doctrines which had hitherto been useless lumber in the statute-book, or laid down general rules applicable to the whole criminal code. It abolished in toto the benefit of clergy in cases of felony; appointed certain punishment for offences to which no special statute affixed any particular penalty; relieved discharged prisoners from severe official expenses; and purified the law from a load of obscure and unnecessary verbiage. The third act contained the law of offences against property in its new and simplified form; bringing the various species of crime into one view; assigning to each its plain description, with its punishment; and removing distinctions which had frequently given rise to subtile and embarrassing doubts. It abolished the distinction between grand and petty larceny; defined the true nature of burglary; and removed many subtilties regarding possession, and the conversion of possession in the law of embezzlement, as well as in the distinctions of larceny and fraud. It also mitigated the rigour of the penal law, while it recognised four classes of punishments, the offences being distinctly set forth to which each was applicable. The first of these punishments was death: the second, transportation for life, or any term not less than seven years, with the alternative of imprisonment for not longer than four years, with public whipping; the third was transportation for any period under fourteen years, or imprisonment for three years and whipping; and the fourth was transportation for seven years, with the alternative of imprisonment for two years and whipping. The fourth statute comprised those offences which consisted of maliciously injuring the property of another. This act reserved capital punishment for arson, for the demolition of buildings or machinery by rioters, for showing false lights to a vessel, &c.; but left other kinds of injury to be repaid by transportation or imprisonment. Altogether the number of capital offences was considerably diminished; and in many cases a summary mode of proceeding was introduced, which was so far a limitation of trial by jury. The last statute regulated the redress to be sought from the hundred by persons whose property had been injured by rioters, and laid down the mode for applying for such remuneration.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on the 2nd of July. The speech was delivered by commission, and chiefly referred to the assurances of friendship from foreign powers; to directions which had been given for a review of the financial state of the country, with a view to a diminution of expenditure; to the revival of employment in the manufacturing districts; and to the corn-law question. On this latter subject the speech remarked:—"His majesty trusts that, although your deliberations on the corn-laws have not led, during the present session, to a permanent settlement of that important question, the consideration of it will be resumed by you early in the ensuing session, and that such an arrangement of it may finally be adopted as shall satisfy the reasonable wishes, and reconcile the substantial interests of all classes of his majesty's subjects."

DEATH OF MR. CANNING.

The close of this session was soon followed by an event which again dismembered the government, and disappointed all those hopes which the genius and enlightened principles of Mr. Canning had raised in the nation; an event, also, which taught an impressive lesson on the vanity and uncertainty of ambition. Immediately after the close of parliament Mr. Canning issued orders to the heads of different departments, that they should transmit to him accurate accounts of the expenses connected with their several establishments, with a view to their reduction. He had no sooner done this than he was visited by an attack of illness. His attack seemed to yield to medical treatment; and he went down to the beautiful seat of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswick, to seek tranquillity and a purer air. The fatigues and cares of office, however, had worn down his constitution, while the desertion and bitter hostility of his ministerial colleagues—men whom he had loved—acted on a frame naturally irritable and enfeebled, and hastened his dissolution. His disease returned; inflammation commenced, and proceeded with a violence and rapidity which defied all art; and on the 8th of August he expired in the same room where his predecessor, Charles James Fox, had drawn his last breath. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, at the foot of Mr. Pitt's tomb, and his funeral, though private, was attended by a large concourse of noblemen and gentlemen, to whom the deceased was endeared, either by the ties of relationship or personal friendship. The public character of Mr. Canning is clearly unfolded in the altered policy of our government, both foreign and domestic, during his connexion with the Liverpool administration. His ambition was lofty and imperious, but it was coupled with noble ends—the glory of his own country, and the advancement, through her greatness, of the surrounding nations. He was anxious that all should benefit by her commercial prosperity and the blessings of her constitution. Perhaps no minister was ever more thoroughly influenced by the free spirit of the British constitution than he was, at least in the latter part of his career. He began life, indeed, on Tory principles; but he gradually imbibed that spirit, until at length he threw off the trammels of that oligarchy, and acted as a true patriot. When he found that the principles which he professed in his early years began to threaten the safety of the constitution he abandoned them as far as expedient; and conciliating his opponents, he availed himself of their assistance to carry on the measures which he devised for the welfare of his country. Some of these measures, as previous pages unfold, were carried; others were to have been brought forward in the lapse of time, had not death cut short his useful career. It has been truly said, that in him England regretted the most accomplished orator that the age had produced; and that the liberal portion of Europe mourned over the loss of his moral influence as a calamity to the world at large. He will be remembered in England as one who nobly defended the honour, and asserted the dignity of the country among nations, and as having made himself prime minister of England by the mere force of talent.

ADMINISTRATION OF LORD GODERICH.

It might have been expected that, on the death of Mr. Canning, his cabinet, which was composed of heterogeneous materials, and kept together by his influence, would have been broken up. Few changes, however, took place; and their effect was to bring back some of Mr. Canning's former friends into office. Lord Goderich became first lord of the treasury, and Mr. Huskisson succeeded to him in the colonial department. The Duke of Wellington re-accepted the command of the army, but without a seat in the cabinet. There was a difficulty in finding a chancellor of the exchequer; it was declined by Messrs. Tierney, Huskisson, and Sturges Bourne; but finally accepted by Mr. Hemes, who had been secretary of the treasury under Lord Liverpool's administration. The nomination of Mr. Herries, who was brought up in the Vansittart school, was well nigh the cause of breaking up the cabinet. The Whigs objected to him on political grounds; and the Marquis of Lansdowne waited upon the king to tender his resignation. His chief objection, however, was, that he was said to have been a nominee of the king; and when it was explained that the recommendation came from Lord Goderich, and was accepted by his majesty, who was anxious to avoid the fatigue of new arrangements, his lordship consented to retain office. This new ministry, the third which the country had seen in the space of seven months, had within it, however, the seeds of its own dissolution; and, as will be seen, the year was scarcely out when it was dissolved.

REVIEW OF FOREIGN POLICY.

The foreign policy of Mr. Canning occasioned difficulties with which his successor was not able to contend. At this time, not only the commerce of the Levant was destroyed, but all Christendom was shocked by the atrocious cruelties exercised by the Turks in a war with the Greeks. Such a state of things could not be suffered long to exist; and when it was found that the Turkish court was resolved to pursue its own course, Great Britain, France, and Russia resolved to interfere. A treaty was signed between these three powers on the 6th of July, in this year, to defend Greece from the Sultan's power. One of the articles of this treaty provided, that if the Ottoman Porte did not accept their intervention, the high contracting powers would establish commercial relations with Greece, and order the admirals commanding their naval forces to impose an armistice on the belligerents. Instructions were drawn up, which authorized those commanders to prevent the transmission of troops and supplies from Turkey or Egypt to Greece; but enjoined them to avoid hostilities unless the Turks should endeavour to force a passage. Despatches were sent at the same time to Constantinople and to the Greek government: and Colonel Cradock was sent to Alexandria to endeavour to persuade the pacha to withdraw his Egyptian army. It was arranged that a combined fleet should give effect to these resolutions, and two line-of-battle ships were sent to re-enforce Sir Edward Codrington. The French government, also, sent four ships of the line into the same seas, and Admiral Siniavin arrived at Spithead with a Russian squadron of eight sail of the line and eight frigates; half of which only, however, joined the confederates. But although thus menaced, the Reis Effendi would not listen to any terms. He would not even deign to receive such a communication as the treaty of the 6th of July; and when a copy was left on his sofa, he refused to answer it, or to admit any explanations. The Russian minister now proposed to starve the Divan into compliance by a joint blockade of the Bosphorus and Hellespont. The French minister entered into his views; but Lord Dudley objected on the part of England to such a step, as too violent. Negociations were in this state, when suddenly ominous sounds proceeded from the Bay of Navarino. In that harbour the Turkish and Egyptian fleets were blockaded by the combined squadrons of England, France, and Russia, under the chief command of Sir Edward Codrington. The Greeks had readily accepted an armistice under the treaty; but Ibrahim Pasha not only refused its terms, but aggravated the miseries of war by devastating the country of Greece. The inhabitants were massacred; villages, vineyards and olive-trees, in which the principal riches of the nation consisted, destroyed. Irritated by such barbarity the allied admirals determined to enforce the armistice on Ibrahim. Their plan was to enter the harbour and renew their demands of an armistice, under the alternative, that, if he refused, they would attack and destroy his fleet. Their first movement towards the harbour was an hostile act. About noon on the 20th of October the combined fleets passed the batteries to take up their anchorage, formed in the order of two sailing lines: the British and French squadrons forming the starboard line, and the Russian squadron the lee line. As it was Admiral Codrington's object only to have the enemy's fleet within his grasp, and then, before laying hold of it, to make his propositions anew to Ibrahim, orders were given that not a gun should be fired unless the Turks should begin. These orders were strictly obeyed; but on seeing the approach of the allies, the Turkish commander concluded that they had come to attack them without any further ceremony, and therefore prepared for battle. As they approached, the Capitana Bey observed,—"The die is now cast; I told you the English would not be trifled with." Their flotilla was drawn up in a crescent with springs on its cables, and it consisted of seventy-nine ships of war, armed with 2,240 guns, beside those in the formidable batteries on shore. In point of strength the Turks had the advantage over the allies, as their ships amounted only to twenty-six, carrying 1,324 guns. The Turks, however, had only three two-deckers, while the allies had ten sail of the line, which greatly compensated for the discrepancy of strength. The fire commenced on the enemy's side; for when the British admiral despatched one of his pilots to the flag-ship of the Turkish commander, expressing an earnest desire to avoid all effusion of blood, the messenger was shot at and killed. The same vessel also soon after fired into the "Asia," and the conflict then became general. The battle continued with fury during four hours; the English bearing the brunt of the engagement. At the end of that time the Turkish and Egyptian fleets had disappeared: the Bay of Navarino was covered with their wrecks, and only a few of the smaller vessels escaped into the inner harbour. The carnage on board the Turkish ships was dreadful: nearly six thousand men had perished in the action. On the part of the allies the severest loss was sustained by the British squadron; having seventy-five killed, including Captain Bathurst of the "Genoa," and one hundred and ninety-seven wounded. The French, who emulated the skill and valour of the English, had forty-three killed and one hundred and seventeen wounded; and the Russians fifty-seven killed and one hundred and thirty-seven wounded. The scene of wreck and devastation on the side of the Turks was such as had not been witnessed since the battle of Lepanto: of about one hundred men-of-war and transports, about half were burnt, sunk, or driven on shore. The allies took no prizes, and detained no prisoners; and in the hour of vengeance they showed mercy by saving many of the Turkish sailors. At the time of the battle Ibrahim Pasha, was absent on a military excursion; but he returned in time to see the smoking remains of his fleet. It is said that he looked on the catastrophe with complacency, as it extricated him from the dilemma in which he was placed between the sultan's orders and the mandates of the three great European powers. After the battle, the admiral entered into a fresh correspondence with the commanders; and after agreeing that hostilities should cease, the allied fleet quitted Navarino. The news of the disaster was received by the sultan as though he submitted to the will of fate: he heard it without dismay or loss of temper. He demanded, indeed, reparation for what he called a violation of the law of nations; but instead of sending the ambassadors to the Seven Towers, as had been the usual custom, he permitted them to return to their respective courts in safety. In Europe the news of the victory was heard with joy and gladness; but the feeling of exultation was in England confined to a minority. The Tories loudly exclaimed against this aggression upon the forces of an ancient ally, as a wanton act of perfidy, and as forwarding the designs of the Russian autocrat. As for the ministry, they appeared paralysed by the event; for they were afraid to take a manly line of defence, and were uncertain as to what course they ought to pursue. Finally, they virtually pronounced an opinion on the victory by rewarding the officers who achieved it; but they marred this action by despatching Admiral Sir John Gore to the Mediterranean, for the purpose of collecting information. By this vacillating conduct they gave their opponents an opportunity of taunting them with inconsistency. Before parliament met, however, and therefore before the question could be debated, the administration of Lord Goderich had become dissolved. At its dissolution it left England at war with the sultan, together with France and Russia; but the two former powers though united against him were still at heart his friends. Though Russia had been working through a long course of never-changing policy, to accomplish his ruin, they, though at present apparently the instruments of this ambition, were deeply interested in counteracting its designs.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

GEORGE IV. 1828—1829


     Duke of Wellington's Administration..... Meeting of
     Parliament..... Discussions and Explanations concerning the
     Dissolution of the Goderich Ministry, &c...... Questions of
     Finance..... Motion for a Grant to the Family of Mr.
     Canning..... Financial Statement..... Repeal of the Test and
     Corporation Acts..... The Catholic Question...... Motion on
     the State of  the Law, &c...... Bills connected with the
     Election of Members of the House..... Corn-Law Question.....
     Divisions in the Cabinet..... Prorogation of Parliament.....
     Disturbances in Ireland..... Death of the Earl of
     Liverpool..... Foreign Policy.

DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION.

A.D. 1828

It soon became manifest that the cabinet with the loss of it great leader had lost all its preservative qualities. Lord Goderich was a man of unquestionable integrity; but he exhibited a lamentable deficiency in that energy, judgment, and firm resolution, which were absolutely necessary for the keeping together of the discordant materials of which his administration was composed. His incapacity was plainly manifested when he proposed to redeem a pledge given by Mr. Canning, to appoint a committee for the investigation and reform of the finances, in the ensuing parliament. Mr. Tierney, one of the most active members of the Whig cabinet, proposed Lord Althorp as chairman, to which Lord Goderich expressed no objection; merely observing that the appointment principally concerned the house of commons, and referring Mr. Tierney to Mr. Huskisson, its ministerial leader. Lord Althorp was by the consent of Mr. Huskisson appointed; but by some oversight or intention, the matter was not mentioned to Mr. Hemes, who, as chancellor of the exchequer was more immediately concerned in the investigation. It was only on the 28th of November that Mr. Hemes, calling at the colonial-office, accidentally saw a list of the committee and its chairman, drawn out by Mr. Tierney. On the subject being discussed, the chancellor of the exchequer was thought to have acquiesced in the appointment; but Mr. Hemes, in the course of the parliamentary explanations which followed, and which will be related in a subsequent article, denied this to have been the case: declaring at the same time that though he had unfeigned respect for the private character of Lord Althorp, he distinctly objected to his being appointed as chairman of the committee. It is quite clear that Mr. Hemes objected to the appointment; for within twenty-four hours after he saw the list he waited on Lord Goderich, and informed him, that, after considering Lord Althorp's political views maturely, he must resign office if his appointment were not set aside. On the other hand the retention of Mr. Huskisson, who considered himself pledged to Lord Althorp, became involved in the question, and occasioned much perplexity to the premier. About the same time the news of the battle of Navarino arrived; and, wearied with his situation, on the 8th of January he went down to Windsor, laid his difficulties before the king, and resigned. The coalition ministry was no more. It perished, the victim of that want of confidence which is the natural result of new-born friendship, and of want of power and energy in its leader.

Thus abandoned by his ministers, the king sent for the Duke of Wellington, and commissioned him to reconstruct the cabinet. The new government was speedily constructed, and, with the exception of Lord Eldon, whom infirmity prevented from taking office, the Liverpool administration was reinstated. The Duke of Wellington relinquished the office of commander-in-chief to Lord Hill, and presided over the treasury; Mr. Peel succeeded to the home department; Lord Bathurst became president of the council; Lord Ellenborough was made keeper of the privy-seal; Viscount Melville and the Earl of Aberdeen were made president of the board of control and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; Lord Lyndhurst was created chancellor; Mr. Huskisson and Earl Dudley became colonial and foreign secretaries; Lord Palmerston was made secretary at war; Mr. C. Grant became president of the board of trade; and Mr. Goulburn succeeded Mr. Hemes as chancellor of the exchequer. Mr. Hemes was made master of the mint and his acceptance of office under the new administration was considered by the Whigs as a proof that he had undertaken his former office from other motives than qualifications or choice. Mr. Huskisson's union with the new ministry displeased the personal friends of Mr. Canning, who thought that he displayed no regard to the memory of his friend, in so soon taking office with those who had deserted him in the hour of need.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament reassembled on the 29th of January. It was again opened by commission; and the principal topic in the speech was an allusion to the late naval conflict. It remarked:—"Having been earnestly entreated by the Greeks to interpose his good offices, with a view to effect a reconciliation between them and the Porte, his majesty concerted measures in the first instance with the Emperor of Russia, and subsequently with his imperial majesty and the King of France. His majesty has given directions that there should be laid before you copies of a protocol signed at St. Petersburg by the plenipotentiaries of his majesty, and of his imperial majesty the Emperor of Russia, on the 4th of April, 1826, and of the treaty entered into between his majesty and the courts of the Tuilleries and of St Petersburg, on the 6th of July, 1827. In the course of the measures adopted 'with a view to carry into effect the object of the treaty a collision wholly unexpected by his majesty took place in the port of Navarino between the fleets of the contracting powers. Notwithstanding the valour displayed by the combined fleet, his majesty deeply laments that this conflict should have occurred with the naval force of our ancient ally; but he still entertains a confident hope that this untoward event will not be followed by further hostilities, and will not impede that amicable adjustment of the existing differences between the Porte and the Greeks to which it is so manifestly their common interests to accede." This is the first time in the British annals that a victory is characterized as an "untoward event." But the men now in power hated Greece and her cause, and were so blinded by admiration of despotic principles, as not to perceive thé advantages which might accrue to Russia in her future projects, from the destruction of the Ottoman navy, and from the lack of confidence which the sultan would now have in his western allies. In both houses the language of the king's speech respecting the victory of Navarino was loudly denounced by opposition, it being supposed to indicate that the Duke of Wellington's cabinet abandoned the line of Mr. Canning's policy. In the lords the Duke of Richmond especially fixed a quarrel on the phrase "ancient ally:" contending that the sultan could not be termed in any correct sense of the word an ally of this country at all, and much less an "ancient ally." He disapproved still more of the epithet "untoward," as applied in the speech to the battle of Navarino. If the term was meant, he said, to cast any blame on the gallant officer who commanded the fleet at Navarino, he would protest against the baseness and ignominy of such an insinuation in the most solemn manner; or if it was to be understood that it referred to that which happened by accident, and which stood across the object we had in view, he entered his protest against it. However much he might lament the effusion of blood which had taken place at Navarino; however much he might lament that we had not yet accomplished the pacification of the two countries, and effected the liberation of Greece, still, if by that word it was meant to say, that the battle of Navarino was an obstacle to the independence of Greece, he could not agree in such views. To him it appeared a great step towards the pacification of Eunrae, and he considered it of more use than a contrary policy could have been in promoting that great and desirable object. In explaining, the Duke of Wellington maintained that the epithets excepted against were fairly and truly applicable. The Ottoman empire, he said, had long been an ally of this country, and the Ottoman power was an essential part of the balance of power in Europe. Its preservation had been for many years an object not only to this country, but to the whole of Europe, while the revolutions and changes of possessions which had taken place had increased the importance of its preservation as an independent state, capable of preserving itself. As to the term "untoward," the sense in which it was used referred to the stipulations of the alliance, that its operation was not to lead to hostilities and that the contracting powers were to take no part in hostilities. When, therefore, the operations under the treaty did lead to hostilities it was certainly an "untoward event." "I must say," continued his grace, "that the gallant admiral was placed in a very delicate situation; and that he has done his duty to his king and his country. He was in command of a squadron of ships, acting in conjunction with admirals of other nations; and he so conducted himself as to acquire their confidence, and to induce them to lead them to victory. Such being the case I should feel myself unworthy of the high situation I hold in his majesty's councils, if I were capable of uttering a single word against the gallant admiral. Meaning as I did, that the government should carry the treaty into execution, it would be blamable in me to insinuate a censure against a man who was charged with the execution of difficult orders under a treaty." Similar exceptions were taken in the commons against the speech; but the usual addresses to the throne were carried in both houses without a division.

DISCUSSIONS AND EXPLANATIONS CONCERNING THE DISSOLUTION OF THE GODERICH

MINISTRY, ETC.

As the dissolution of the late ministry had been unexpected, and little had been said of the causes which produced it, and as the conduct of those members who had passed into the new government appeared suspicious, some explanation of these matters was looked for in both houses of parliament. The disclosures began by Messrs. Hemes, Huskisson, and others who had accepted office under the new government. They commenced with Lord Goderich, on whom it was especially incumbent to explain the civil dissensions which had broken in pieces a cabinet of his own framing, and had induced him to throw up the government in a manner neither understood by his older friends or more recent allies. His statement in reply attributed the dissolution of the ministry to an irreconcilable difference between Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Herries, regarding the proposed chairman of the finance committee; and since that difference had caused the resignation of the minister, it implied an admission that his cabinet was so constructed that the removal of either of these gentlemen naturally dissolved it. It remained for Messrs. Huskisson and Herries to state the grounds, therefore, of an obstinacy which had been so fatal to the cabinet; but both remained silent, until Lord Normandy called directly upon them to explain their conduct in the matter. Mr. Huskisson, in his version of the events which had led to the dissolution of the ministry, agreed in general with the statement made by Lord Goderich, simply supplying some deficiencies which his lordship had been unable to fill up. On the contrary, Mr. Herries averred broadly that the difference concerning the appointment of Lord Althorp as chairman of the committee was not the cause of the dissolution of Lord Goderich's administration. He remarked:—"There is no truth whatever in the allegation that that difference caused the dissolution of the late cabinet. In all the rumours which have been propagated about design, and artifice, and stratagem, there is not one word of truth. I deny them all most unequivocally. They are false and unfounded in every particular, and have not even the slightest shadow of a foundation." Mr. Tierney and Lord Althorp followed; but they threw no new light on the subject; and all parties ended where they had begun: the public had to believe which of the statements made they chose, according to this or that man's political bias. In a discussion which followed, the attention of the house was directed to the character of the new government, and the conduct of those members of the former government who had joined it. Mr. T. Dun-combe remarked, that the house had still to learn how the difference between Messrs. Huskisson and Herries had been made up, and how these members continued to sit in the same cabinet. The colonial secretary, he said, had still to explain "how their pulses, which formerly were so irregular, could beat so soon in unison; by what means the quietus had been produced, and the direful wrath appeased." He was inclined to impute all that had happened to a secret and powerful agency which had not yet been unmasked, and which was exercised, according to the statement of the honourable member, by a Jew stock-broker, and a Christian physician. He had, indeed, "been credibly informed that there is a mysterious personage behind the scene, who concerts, regulates, and influences every arrangement." He continued, "There is, deny it who can? a secret influence behind the throne, whose form is never seen, who name is never breathed who has access to all the secrets of the state, and who manages all the sudden springs of ministerial arrangement,


     'At whose soft nod the streams of honour flow,
     Whose smiles all place and patronage bestow.'

"Closely connected with this invisible, this incorporeal person, stands a more solid and substantial form, a new and formidable power, till these days unknown in Europe. Master of unbounded wealth, he boasts that he is the arbiter of peace and war, and that the credit of nations depends upon his nod. His correspondents are innumerable; his couriers outrun those of sovereign princes and absolute sovereigns; ministers of state are in his pay. Paramount to the cabinets of continental Europe, he aspires to the domination of our own. Even the great Don Miguel himself, of whom we have lately heard and seen so much, was obliged to have recourse to the purse of this individual, before he could take possession of his throne. Sir, that such secret influences do exist is a matter of notoriety: they are known to have been but too busy in the underplot of the revolution. I believe their object to be as impure as the means by which their power has been acquired; and I denounce them and their agents as unknown to the British constitution, and derogatory to the honour of the crown." Mr. Buncombe's denunciation of the secret influence behind the throne was followed by the explanations of Messrs. Stanley and Peel, and Lords Morpeth, Milton, and Palmerston, as to their reasons for joining or not joining the present government. But after the house, as Mr. Brougham remarked, had heard a great deal, it was still left nearly as much in the dark as ever, regarding the substantial facts of the case which it was desirable should be known. The whole transaction, he said was another illustration of Odenstien's remark to his son;—"You see with how little wisdom the world can be governed." It appeared that two members of the cabinet had been walking about in uncertainty whether they belonged to the government or not; and the head of that government was chiefly distinguished for carrying the resignations of two of his colleagues in his pocket, and for an alarm, when they should leave him, as to what he should do to provide himself with new ones. As for the quarrel of the two resigning members, it was endless, hopeless. Walls of brass were raised to divide the contending parties for ever: to communicate with each other was impossible. Communications were only to be held with a third person, and that third person was not to repeat what either party communicated to him. Every possible course ad been resorted to to avoid an explanation, although » would have put an end to the difficulty altogether, is to the explanations of Mr. Herries, said Mr. Brougham, they give me no satisfaction. That gentleman's shining of his ground, first assenting or not objecting to the appointment of Lord Althorp, afterwards protesting against it, and then attributing the dissolution of the ministry to a preconcerted plan on the part of others—all this left doubts remaining in the public mind. There was still something untold which would have explained the matter at once. The most important thing spoken in the debate, he said, was the assertion of Mr. Huskisson, that he never intended to say that he had got a guarantee for office in the new administration before the old one was dissolved. No man had ever meant, or supposed that he had stipulated for and obtained a guarantee, in the legal sense of the words, set down in a formal writing, and on a proper stamp. But, he asked, if a man spoke to an audience of having had conversations, explanations, and understandings, would they not apply those conversations, explanations, and understandings to that subject just as much as if it were written? Would it not be said that explanation was the result, of that conversation; and that the result of that explanation, in the case before the house, was the acceptation of office by the right honourable gentleman? In alluding to the unusual circumstance of a military man being at the head of the government, Mr. Brougham used very emphatic language. He remarked:—"No man values more highly than I do the services and genius of the noble duke as a soldier; but I do not like to see him at the head of the financial department of this country, with the full confidence of his sovereign, enjoying all the patronage of the church, the army, and the state; while he is also entrusted with the delicate function of conveying constant and confidential advice to his royal master. This state of things strikes me as being very unconstitutional. I am, indeed, told that the noble duke is a person of very great vigour in council, and that his talents are not confined to the art of war. It may be so. But that does not remove my objections to his possession of so immense a mass of civil and military patronage. It is said that the noble duke is incapable of speaking in public as a first minister or the crown ought to speak. Now I consider that there is no validity in that objection; for I happened to be present when the noble duke last year had the modesty and candour to declare, in another place, his unfitness for the situation of first minister; and I really thought I had never heard a better speech in my life, or observed less want of capacity in any one who might be called on to take part in a debate. This therefore is not a reason with me for objecting to the appointment. My objection rests on the unconstitutional grounds which I have before stated, and on the experience of the noble duke being wholly military. Let it not, however, be supposed that I am inclined to exaggerate. I have no fear of slavery being introduced into this country by the power of the sword. It would demand a stronger man even than the Duke of Wellington to effect that object. The noble duke might take the army and the navy, the mitre and the great seal—I will make him a present of them all; let him come on with his whole force, sword in hand, against the constitution, the people will not only beat him by their energies, but laugh at his efforts. There have, indeed, been periods when the country heard with dismay that the soldier was abroad; but such is not the case now. Let the soldier be never so much abroad in the present age, he can do nothing. Another person, less important, nay, even insignificant in the eyes or some persons, has produced this state of things. 'The schoolmaster is abroad,' and I trust more to the schoolmaster, armed with his primer, for upholding the liberties of this country than I fear lest the soldier, in full military array, should destroy them." Mr. Brougham had no occasion to fear the effects of a military premier, even though the schoolmaster had not been abroad; for no prime minister that ever presided over the councils of the British nation has ever shown himself to be more alive to the interests of the country, and the preservation of its constitutional rights, than the Duke of Wellington.

QUESTIONS OF FINANCE.

While these explanations were proceeding, that committee of finance which had dissolved the late administration, was appointed. The motion was made by Mr. Peel, now the acknowledged leader of the house of commons. He prefaced his motion, with an able and comprehensive statement. By his details, it appeared that a reduction of £48,608,000 had taken place in the funded and unfunded debt since the year 1815, while the actual sum of unredeemed debt amounted about £777,476,000. This being the total encumbrance, Mr. Peel next looked at the revenue and expenditure; and after detailing the various items, he stated the income of last year at £49,581,000, and the expenditure at £49,487,000, thus leaving an excess of income equal to £94,000,000. The estimates of the present year, he said, were not completed; but, without binding himself down to extreme accuracy they would be less than those of the present year by £1,168,260. After having made this general statement Mr. Peel declared that he and his colleagues would listen to any suggestion of the committee, for the appointment of which he was about to move. He took that opportunity, he said, of pressing one subject particularly on its notice, namely, the simplification of the public accounts, in imitation of France and America. The motion passed without opposition, except from Mr. Hume, who contended, that if any good was to be done, there should be ten or eleven finance committees; but his plan received no countenance, except from Mr. Brougham; and a single committee of twenty-three members was appointed. The labours of this committee were multifarious and important. One of the first fruits of its appointment was the discovery that the public was regularly losing large sums of money by the system on which the government annuities had been granted. Mr. Hemes submitted a statement to the committee concerning the finances, which Lord Althorp described as, "able, clear, and satisfactory;" and it appeared from that exposition that these annuities had been sold at a considerable loss. The evidence of this was found in certain calculations made by Mr. Finlayson, who was said to have communicated the fact to Lord Bexley in 1819, and subsequently to Lord Goderich. His calculations stated the rate of loss to be £8,000 a month, and to arise from a false calculation of the duration of life in the tables given by Dr. Price. Either these tables were originally inaccurate, or human life, in consequence of increased comforts, conveniences, and scientific aid, was extended to a longer period. The truth of this statement soon appeared to the committee; but nothing could be done to alter those annuities which had been sold. On the recommendation of the committee, however, a bill was brought in and speedily passed, to suspend the operation of the act under which they had been granted, until a more correct system could be arranged. During the session the committee reported on various matters which had been brought under their consideration, but not early enough to allow their recommendations to be carried into effect. In a report on the state of the ordnance department, the abolition of the office of its lieutenant-general was recommended; but this proposition was opposed by the ministry, and a motion to give it effect was lost by a large majority.

MOTION FOR A GRANT TO THE FAMILY OF MR. CANNING.

When Mr. Canning died he was a poor man. He had begun the world without fortune; he had spent his life in the public service; and the emoluments of the offices which he had held had scarcely sufficed to cover the expenses of his station. As, therefore, he held no sinecures, his sudden death had left his family without a due provision. On these grounds the chancellor of the exchequer proposed to grant a pension of £3,000 a year to his second son, as a mode of providing for the family less onerous than voting a large sum for the payment of debts. This proposition was vehemently opposed by Lord Althorp, Sir M. Ridley, Messrs. Hume, Bankes, D. W. Harvey, P. Thompson, and others, partly on the score of economy, and partly on the ground of its not having been deserved. On the contrary, ministers placed the question on the broad ground, that Mr. Canning had devoted a long life, and talents of the first order, to the service of his country; and in following that service, had not merely lost the means of improving, but had deteriorated his private fortune. What had he not surrendered, it was asked, when he gave up the government of India to fill the unprofitable office of foreign secretary? Mr. Huskisson remarked:—"I regret to be obliged to make reference on such an occasion to information derived from the privacy of confidential intercourse; but I can state, upon my own personal credit, that whatever were the feeling of others, who were justly near and dear to Mr. Canning, it had for years been his warm and anxious wish to be placed in some public situation, however it might sacrifice or compromise the fair and legitimate scope of his ambition, which, while it enabled him to perform adequate public services, would enable him also to place upon a better footing his wife's private fortune, which he had lessened, and the inheritance of his children, which he had impaired. I will not go so far as to say, that this was a prospect fixed upon Mr. Canning's mind, or an object that he was bent upon pursuing, for it is difficult to trace the springs of so susceptible a temperament; but under the circumstances it was quite natural, considering his means and his family, that while he honourably sought a situation to render service to his country, he should not be unmindful of the means of repairing the family fortune, which he had diminished while in the service of his country." A further objection was raised to the grant, founded on disapprobation of Mr. Canning's policy, or of that policy with which he had been officially connected; but to this it was answered, that the proposition touched no political principle, and did not imply the abandonment of any political dogma. If the motion, it was argued, went to vote a monument to commemorate his services, members who thought that he had not performed any services to be commemorated, would do right to appose it; but when the motion went only to reward his family, they had merely to consider the fact, whether he had devoted his talents to the public service to the detriment of his private interests. On a division the grant was confirmed by a large majority. Both in the house indeed, and throughout the country, it was felt that this grant was only an act of justice, as Mr. Canning had spent not only his life, but his fortune, in the public service. On this subject it has been well remarked:—"It should be known, in justice to those who held the higher offices under the crown, that their salaries fall short of the expenses to which they are subjected, by the manners of the country and a mischievous convention. This gorgeous scale of living has the double effect of giving an example and impulse to extravagance through every department of the public service; and of securing, perhaps by design, to private wealth, a monopoly of administration. A man vigilantly prudent might perhaps have lived within his income in Mr. Canning's situation, and it is known that he had no prodigal or expensive tastes; but it is also known that he had that utter carelessness of money through which fortune is not less effectually dissipated."

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

The budget was opened by the chancellor of the exchequer on the 11th of July; and it was opened with a clearness and simplicity that disarmed even the opposition of Mr. Hume, disposed as he was at all times to cavil about figures. The total ordinary net revenue of the year 1827 was £49,581,576; but to this were added £4,245,000 received from the Bank on account of the dead-weight, and the sum of £660,081 under the head of extraordinary and miscellaneous, making a total revenue of £54,486.657. The chancellor of the exchequer said, that the total ordinary revenue for the year 1828 might be considered as amounting ta £50,381,530, to which must be added £3,082,500, to be received from the trustees of military and naval pensions, together with miscellaneous payments of £438,000, making a grand total of £53,902,030. The expenditure he calculated as £50,104,522, which, being deducted from the revenue, left a surplus of £3,797,508 From this, however, was to be taken the advances to public works, £708,000, so that the clear surplus was only £3,088,708 instead of £5,000,000 to be applied as a sinking-fund. It was considered impossible in the present circumstances of the country, to supply this deficiency of the sinking-fund by additional taxation; so that it was agreed to limit the said fund to the amount of such a balance as might remain after the expenses of the year were liquidated. It was stated by the chancellor of the exchequer that, in the course of the last eleven years, the amount of debt redeemed was £29,000,000. It must be acknowledged, however, that the existing system of incurring debt with one hand, and redeeming it with the other, was a delusion.

REPEAL OF THE TEST AND CORPORATION ACTS.

The grand question of this session was the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts: acts which excluded dissenters from offices of trust and power, and shut the doors of all corporations against them, unless they consented to take the sacrament according to the ritual of the church of England. Lord John Russell introduced this subject on the 26th of February, by moving "That this house will resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider of so much of the acts of the 13th and 25th of Charles II., as require persons, before they are admitted into any office or place in corporations, or having accepted any office, civil or military, or any place of trust under the crown, to receive the sacrament of the Lord's supper according to the rites of the church of England." In introducing this motion Lord John Russell took a review of the history of the statutes in question, and he argued that they had been originally enacted for reasons which no longer existed. He maintained the justice and expediency of the motion on the ground that while these tests were an infliction on the dissenters, they afforded no protection to the church of England; but on the contrary, exposed her to dangers to which she would not be otherwise obnoxious. Without serving any good purpose, he said, they made the dissenters irritated enemies, instead of converting them into companions or friends. Another objection, he said, rose from the nature of the test, which made it a shameless abuse of the most solemn of all religious rites. The sacrament of the Lord's supper was held by the church to be most sacred; and yet it was prostituted bylaw to be a mere qualification for office. History stated, he remarked, that it was the custom for persons to be waiting in taverns and houses near the church, and when service was over an appointed person called out, "Those who want to be qualified will please to step up this way," and then persons took the communion solely for the purpose of receiving office. Such, said his lordship, were the consequences of mixing politics with religion. Political dissensions were aggravated by the venom of theological disputes, and religion profaned by the vices of ambition; making it both hateful to man and offensive to God. The only answers, continued his lordship, which could be made to these objections, were that the dissenters, in consequence of the Indemnity Act, suffered no real hardship, and that the law in its present state was necessary to the security of the church. But neither of these positions was true. The practical grievance suffered by the dissenters was much heavier than the legal grievances appearing on the face of the statutes: even the indemnity act was passed on the ground that the omission to qualify had proceeded from ignorance, absence, or unavoidable accident, and thus refused all relief to those in whom the omission flowed from conscientious scruples. The fact was, that many dissenters refused to take office on such degrading terms; they refused to attain by a fraud upon the statute, honours and emoluments which the law declared they should not attain in any other way. In conclusion his lordship remarked;—"I have proved that these acts violate the sacred rights of conscience, and are of the nature of religious persecution; I have shown that so far from not having inflicted any hardship on the body upon whom they operate, they are fraught with great mischief, irritation, and injustice; and I have shown that they are totally at variance with our own policy in Scotland and Ireland, as well as with the enlightened legislation of all the Christian countries of Europe. If I am asked what advantage the country is to derive from the abrogation of such laws, I answer, that the obvious tendency of the measure, independently of its justice, will be to render the dissenters better affected to the government; to inspire them with dispositions to bear the heavy burdens imposed on them by the necessities of the state with cheerfulness, or at least, with resignation; and above all, it will be more consonant to the tone and spirit of the age than the existence of those angry, yet inefficient and impracticable laws, which are a disgrace to the statute-book." This motion was seconded by Mr. J. Smith, and ably supported by Lords Milton, Althorp, and Nugent, and by Messrs. Brougham, Ferguson, and Palmer. One of its most powerful advocates was Mr. Ferguson one of the members for Scotland, who desired the house to look at the Test and Corporation Acts, as they affected not merely a minority in England, but even the established religion of a constituent part of the empire. Scotland had a legal national religion equally with England; for at the union it was provided by the parliament of England that no alteration should be made in the principles, doctrine, or discipline, of the church of England, and the Scotch parliament, true to their own particular doctrines, immediately issued orders to their commissioners, that any clause should be null and void which militated in any way against the principles, doctrines, or discipline of the Protestant Presbyterian religion. The religion of Scotland was, therefore, a state religion as well as that of England, yet its members were affected by these penal laws, and prevented from serving their king, but at the risk of incurring these penalties, or renouncing their religion. Why, he asked, this proscription of a whole nation, upon the notion that this mode of exclusion was the best way of defending the church and state as by law established? Why deny a community of privileges to those who confer equal services, and encounter equal danger? On what occasion had the people of Scotland not contributed their full share in support of Great Britain? Were they no longer wanted? Hid the church of England desire to be left to defend the empire exclusively? If so, let the dissenters be told to withdraw, and quit a defence which they could only remain to make under exposure to ignominy. Take the battle of Waterloo, he continued, which had crowned the renown of the most illustrious leader of their times. What would have been the fate of that battle, and that leader, if the army which had conquered, had been filled only by the sons of the church of England? Take from the field the Scottish regiments; take away too the aid of those sons of Ireland, the proscribed Catholics: what then would have been the chance of their arms, divested of the Scottish and Irish soldiers, who filled their ranks and served their navy in every quarter of the globe! And if they had the assistance of such men, when the hour of peril came upon them, they ought not to deny their confidence in a time of tranquillity and peace. Ministers opposed the motion, the opposition being conducted by Messrs. Huskisson and Peel. Their chief defence was that the acts in question led to no particular hardship; and they sought evidence of this in the Indemnity Acts, and in the long silence of the dissenters themselves, from whom it was to have been expected that the constant infliction of a permanent grievance would have drawn forth incessant complaints. Mr. Huskisson said, that he doubted whether the present motion was calculated to remove any grievance. The grievances, indeed, complained of were of an imaginary character: he had yet to learn what obstacles existed against the honourable ambition of the dissenters. They had, he said, their full share of the civil power of the country, and were qualified to fill the first offices in the army and navy. Forty years had elapsed since this subject was discussed, and that period had been marked by many eager discussions on another great question involving the principles of religious liberty: could it be credited that the petitioners before the house, many of whom possessed acute intellects and intelligent minds, enjoyed the highest consideration in the country, if they knew there was anything in the state of the law to impede the fair, useful, and honourable exercise of their talents, would not have long since, firmly and unanimously, called upon the house to remove the grievance. The fact could not be so, for they had preserved total silence for the long period of forty years. Mr. Peel said that the question was attended with great difficulty. He was not prepared to say that it was essentially interwoven with the interest of the church of England; he did not think, indeed, that the two were so connected, that the church of England must fall, if the Test and Corporation Acts were repealed. He thought, however, with Mr. Huskisson, that the Protestant dissenters did not labour under such grievances as had been represented, and that they did not look at the Test and Corporation Acts, together with the Indemnity Act as honourable gentlemen had described. It had been said, he remarked, that we had shed the blood of the Scotch regiments in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. "What office of naval or military command had been closed against their officers? It was also said that the Test Acts shut them out from the higher offices of government. For an answer, look at the ministry: of the fourteen members of the cabinet, three, namely, Lords Aberdeen and Melville, and the president of the board of trade, were Scotsmen and good Presbyterians, whom these acts nevertheless had not succeeded in shutting out. The fact was," he continued, "the existing law gave merely a nominal predominance to the established church; and he heartily wished, therefore, that this question had been allowed to remain quiescent, especially as it was practically offensive to no one." In answer to the views taken by ministers, on the subject, Mr. Brougham maintained that the acts were daily and positively felt to be a most decided grievance. AVas it no grievance, he asked, to bear the mark of the chain remaining, after the fetter had been knocked away? Was it no grievance for a dissenter, wherever he went, to look like, and to be treated like a different being? It was said that temporal interests were not concerned: this he denied. A dissenter could not stand for a corporation. It had been stated that the late lord mayor of London was a dissenter, and that he had taken the sacrament: that statement was in favour of the argument. With respect to Scotland he knew that not one Presbyterian in a thousand would take the sacrament, would not even go to a place of worship where there was an organ, would consider it idolatry to kneel at an altar; if they conscientiously thought so, was it to be wondered at that they evinced a repugnance at what they considered a mixture of idolatry with Christian worship? If in the recent contest at Vintry ward, one of the candidates had differed from the other as to trans-substantiation or anything of that sort, there would be an end to this legal controversy: the court of king's bench would never have heard of it, and the churchman would have been elected. Was not this a grievance? The knowledge of this act operated so, that, though the dissenter might walk on in his course, when not opposed, yet even if he aspired to a corporation, and no individual opposed him; if he was unanimously elected, and actually filled the place, a single individual might upset his election, he must retire. The consequence was that the dissenter would not seek such places: he retired to his library, to retirement, to private pursuits, with what feelings he might towards the government and the constitution. He was condemned to privacy, because he was of a different religion from the state, and because he would not sacrifice his religion for his place. Lord Palmerston said that he thought it would be an act of injustice to the Catholics to repeal this minor grievance while they suffered under much severer enactments. Sir T. Acland conceived that a middle course would afford relief, while the theoretical principal of the law would remain untouched. But it was found useless to strive against the spirit of the age. After an abortive project of Sir T. Ackland for suspending instead of repealing the acts in question, as well as a proposition made by Mr. Peel to take more time for consideration, Lord John Russell's motion was carried by a majority of two hundred and thirty-seven, against one hundred and ninety-three.

Government had now one of two courses to adopt; either to resign their opinions or their places. They chose the former alternative; for when the motion for the house going into a committee was brought forward, Mr. Peel said he could not think of pressing his sentiments against those of the majority. Government itself, indeed, now took up the measure, adding by way of security to the established church a form of declaration, which all who accepted office were to take, that they would not exert any power or influence which they might possess by virtue of that office to the injury or subversion of the Protestant church as by law established, or to disturb it in the possession of those rights and privileges to which it is by law entitled. This declaration was described by those who supported simple repeal as both useless and unnecessary; but they recommended that the suggestion should be adopted rather than the bill should not pass. With this amendment it was carried, and it was introduced into the house of peers by Lord Holland. There was no ministerial deposition encountered here, and being in a manner a bill of the government it was generally supported by the spiritual peers. The bishop of Chester said:—"I wish the bill to pass, if for no other reason, yet for this—because the present laws do not answer their purpose. If the declaration now proposed be taken by a conscientious dissenter, it will prevent him from endeavouring, at least from indirectly endeavouring, to injure the establishment; and that is more than the sacramental test, if taken, could effect: if it be taken by a person who does not conscientiously intend to observe it, that person would not be kept out of office by any test whatever." Lord Eldon, however, gave the bill his most decided opposition. He had heard much, he said, of "the march of mind," but he never expected to see it thus march into the house with the Duke of Wellington and the bishops at its head. Of the declaration, he said, that instead of making the taker of office describe himself as belonging to some sort of religion, whether a Unitarian, a Catholic, or a Free-thinker, it did not require him to say, he had only to answer, that he was of the Christian faith; neither did it call on him to observe the declaration by such phrases as "I am a Christian," or as, "I stand in the presence of my God." The confidence to be reposed in the declaration did not rest upon the faith of a Christian, or any other faith whatever. Then again, he said, the declaration is to be extended to all offices of trust and emolument under the crown, and the bill left it entirely to the king to say in such cases, whether his majesty would, or would not require such a declaration: he could not but object to the provisions of a bill, the object of which was to take away the sacramental test merely on the ground of expediency, and to substitute in its place a declaration which, in some instances, might or might not be taken, according to the will of the sovereign. The form of declaration was also strongly objected to in the committee; and several amendments were carried to meet the views of the objectors, though not narrowing the principles of the bill; and it finally passed by a large majority. The amendments made simply consisted in this, that the man assuming a public office in a Christian community should declare that he was a Christian, or, at least, that he was not an infidel. The commons agreed to all that were made, although some members did not approve of them.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

GEORGE IV. 1828—1829

During the discussion on the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, frequent allusion had been made to Catholic emancipation. The opponents of that repeal found an additional argument against it, in the supposition that it was but the first step in a course which was to terminate in Catholic emancipation. On the other hand, those who supported the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts denied that it had any such tendency. The Duke of Wellington remarked, in order to show that he might vote for the measure then before the house, and yet be a determined enemy of the Papists, that there was no person in the house of peers whose feelings and sentiments, after long consideration, were more decided than his with regard to the subject of the Roman Catholic claims; and that until he saw a great change in that question, he certainly should oppose them. Notwithstanding, the repeal of the Test Acts was immediately followed by a motion for removing the Catholic disabilities. On the 8th of May Sir Francis Burdett moved, "That the house do now resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, for the purpose of taking into consideration the state of the laws affecting his majesty's subjects in Great Britain and Ireland, with a view to such a final and conciliatory adjustment as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the United Kingdom, to the stability of the Protestant establishment, and to the general satisfaction and concord of all classes of his majesty's subjects." The debate lasted two nights; but as the speeches were merely repetitions of former arguments, it would be tedious and useless to give even a sketch, of them. The principal speakers in favour of the motion were Messrs. Brougham, Fitzgerald, North, Grant, and Huskisson, and Sirs J. Newport and J. Mackintosh. It was opposed by the attorney-general, Sir R. Inglis, and Messrs. Moore, Foster, Bankes, and Peel. On a division the motion for a committee was carried by a majority of six; and in the committee this resolution was agreed to:—"That it is expedient to consider the state of the laws affecting his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects, with the view of effecting such a final adjustment of them as may be conducive to the peace and strength of the United Kingdom, the stability of the Protestant establishment, and the general satisfaction and concord of all classes." Here, however, the commons stopped. Instead of forming resolutions in detail, it was determined to seek a conference with the lords, in order to ascertain whether their sentiments on the subject had changed. This proposal was agreed to by the peers; and a conference was held on the 19th of May, when the resolution of the commons, after being read in the upper house, was ordered to be taken into consideration on the 9th of June. The debate lasted two days; but the proposition of the Marquis of Lansdowne, "that their lordships should concur in that resolution," was lost by a majority of one hundred and eighty-one against one hundred and thirty-seven. In this debate, however, the Duke of Wellington's speech was marked by a conciliatory tone; and the friends of emancipation augured from this that their wishes on a future day would meet-with a less obstinate and uncompromising opposition.

MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE LAW.

Early in this session Mr. Brougham directed the attention of the commons to the state of the common law courts, and the common law itself, in a speech which occupied six hours in delivery, and was remarkable for its vast variety of detail. He moved "that an humble address be presented to his majesty, respectfully requesting that it may be his majesty's pleasure to cause a commission to issue, to inquire into the abuses which have been introduced in the course of time into the administration of the law of these realms, and of the courts of common law; and to report on what remedies it may seem fit and expedient to adopt for their removal." It was generally agreed that there was no subject more worthy of attention than the improvement of the law; but at the same time it was obvious that the unbounded nature of the inquiry proposed by Mr Brougham would prevent it from producing any practical effects. Mr. Brougham's motion therefore was lost: but in the course of the session two commissions were issued, one to inquire into the state of the common law, and the other to take into consideration the state of the law of real property.

BILLS CONNECTED WITH ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE.

In the course of this session bills were introduced into parliament to disfranchise the corrupt boroughs of Penryn and East Retford. Penryn first engaged the attention of the commons. A bill transferring its elective privileges to Manchester was carried and sent up to the lords; but the lords threw it out, as not being supported by evidence of corruption sufficient to warrant disfranchisement. A bill was also brought into the house to transfer the franchise of East Retford to Birmingham; but as at the time it was introduced there was a certainty that the Penryn bill would be rejected by the peers, the commons agreed that the measure should stand over till the next session, on the understanding that no new writ should be issued for East Retford. Other bills connected with elections of members of the house were brought into the commons; but they either did not pass that house, or were rejected by the lords, except one, which regulated the manner of taking the poll at city and borough elections, and which passed into a law. The chief feature of this latter bill was, that it cut down the duration of the poll from fifteen to six days.

CORN-LAW QUESTION.

One of the most important questions debated during this session was a new settlement of the corn-laws. This subject was introduced by Mr. C. Grant, on principles similar to those in the bill lost in the preceding session. The act he introduced was constructed on a graduated principle of ascending and descending duties, like that of Mr. Canning; but the medium price was raised from 60s. to 64s. In introducing this bill Mr. Grant scarcely attempted its vindication; declaring at the same time that it was the best that could be framed with any chance of being passed into a law. The resolutions, he said, so far as the legislature was concerned, were permanent, until the minds of men could be led to entertain juster notions upon this subject; and they would be changed only as the notions which at present prevailed were altered for the better. They were offered to the landed interests as a resting-place, a firm and solid ground on which time and experience might accumulate a richer soil. They were a compromise between conflicting interests and opinions. For himself, he conceived them imperfect, because they fell short of the bill of last year; but they had been brought as near to that measure as was consistent with the likelihood of their being passed into a law. Other members of government also described the measure as one which did not satisfy their own ideas of what was right and expedient; but what they called a compromise of conflicting opinions, was in reality nothing less than a sacrifice of what they admitted they knew to be for the public good, to the views of a party which they were fearful of displeasing. Notwithstanding, the opposition which had been made to the bill of last year was renewed by the agriculturists on the same grounds as before. They struggled for still higher duties; but the bill finally passed both lords and commons without alteration. It has been observed of the contest on this occasion, that "agriculture was considered improperly as opposed both in its nature and objects to manufactures; while, in fact, it is itself a manufacture, and the most advantageous of all manufactures; for its profits are certain, and its employment healthy. All grain raised beyond the seed sown adds the whole extent of such produce to the wealth, and the people employed in its production to the strength of the state. The grand object of every good government is to provide employment for the industry of its people; and the first point to be attended to in this respect is the manufacturing of the raw material produced by the country: for this is real wealth; hence agriculture must always prove the most useful kind of manufacture to every state. The fruits and productions of the soil, raised by labour and capital, are disseminated and divided among all classes, who exchange their labour for that of the agriculturist, until sustenance is obtained by all. It is this internal commerce which is so beneficial and so important, from the rapidity of the exchange and the stability of it, as far as every description of produce is consumed by the inhabitants of a country; and by no other means can manufacturers and tradesmen be so extensively injured as by an oppression of the agricultural interests." While this, however, may be admitted to be true to a certain extent, it is clear that the agricultural interests should not be protected to the injury of the manufacturing interests, properly so called; and time, as will be seen, has convinced the nation at large of the unreasonableness of such a protection.

DIVISIONS IN THE CABINET.

In the division which took place on the transfer of the franchise of East Retford to Birmingham, Mr. Huskisson redeemed a pledge which he had given to support it; and in so doing divided against his colleagues. On his arrival at home from the house of commons he addressed a letter to the Duke of Wellington, marked "private and confidential," in which he said that duty led him, without loss of time, to afford his grace an opportunity of placing his office in other hands. The duke immediately laid this letter as a resignation before his majesty; but Mr. Huskisson seems to have written it solely with a view of being solicited to remain in office. He declared to Lord Dudley that he never intended to resign, and that his letter was marked private in consequence. Lord Dudley immediately waited on the premier, and attempted to pass the matter off as a mistake; but his grace declared emphatically that it was not, and should not be any mistake. Mr. Huskisson made further attempts to retain office; but the Duke of Wellington was inexorable, probably because he did not coincide with all the views of his colleague; and the dismissal of Mr. Huskisson was followed by the resignations of Lords. Dudley and Palmerston, and of Mr. Charles Grant. Their places were filled up in the cabinet by Sir Charles Murray, who succeeded Mr. Huskisson; Sir Henry Hardinge, who was made secretary at war; and Mr. Vesey, who accepted the office of the board of trade; while the Earl of Aberdeen received the seals of the foreign secretary. No further change took place, except that the Duke of Clarence resigned his post of lord high admiral, when a board was appointed on the old system, with Lord Melville at its head.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was prorogued on the 28th of July. On this occasion two interesting subjects of foreign policy were introduced into the speech, which was again delivered by the commissioners. These subjects were, war between Russia and Turkey, and the suspension of our relations with Portugal. The sections relating to these events read thus:—"His imperial majesty has found himself under the necessity of declaring war against the Ottoman Porte, upon grounds concerning exclusively the interests of his own dominions, and unconnected with the stipulations of the treaty of the 6th of July, 1827. His majesty deeply laments the occurrence of these hostilities, and will omit no effort of friendly interposition to restore peace." "His majesty commands us to acquaint you, that his majesty had every reason to hope, when he last addressed you, that the arrangements which had been made for administering the government of Portugal., until the period at which the Emperor of Brazil should have completed his abdication of the throne of Portugal, would have secured the peace and promoted the happiness of a country in the welfare of which his majesty has ever taken the deepest interest. The just expectations of his majesty have been disappointed; and measures have been adopted in Portugal, in disregard of the earnest advice and repeated remonstrances of his majesty, which have compelled his majesty, and the other powers of Europe acting in concert with his majesty, to withdraw their representatives from Lisbon." As regards the declaration of war against the Ottoman Porte by Russia, the chief pretext for it was, the imperious behaviour of the Porte, in its delay to fulfil the treaty of Ackerman. It seems certain, however, that though it was said to be waged for objects wholly national, that the chief object was aggrandisement. In Portugal affairs had assumed a strange aspect. Don Pedro had recently named Don Miguel regent of the kingdom, on which, a few months before, he had sought to establish himself as monarch. Miguel, however, had spontaneously sworn allegiance to him as natural sovereign, as well as to the constitutional charter, and had also engaged on oath to deliver up the crown to Donna Maria II., as soon as that princess should become of age. After his appointment to the regency Don Miguel paid a visit to England, where he was treated by the nobility in general with high respect. He was twice entertained at the admiralty by the Duke of Clarence, and after visiting the king at Windsor he returned to Portugal. Before he set sail he addressed a letter to the king, declaring that, if, on his return to Portugal, he attempted anything against his brother or niece, or against the constitution, he should be an usurper, and prove a perjured wretch. Yet Don Miguel had scarcely drawn this character of himself before he assumed it. On his arrival at Lisbon his mother resumed her ill-fated influence over him; and after a series of atrocities the courts were dismissed, the charter abolished, and Don Miguel proclaimed king. All the dungeons in the realm were filled with victims, and thousands perished in them, or on the scaffold; whilst thousands more were banished to the desert coasts of Africa, or voluntarily abandoned their country, to endure the sorrows of unmerited exile. It was these circumstances that gave rise to the withdrawal of his majesty's representatives from Lisbon, as intimated in the speech at the close of parliament. On hearing of these events, Don Pedro, by his ministers at Vienna and London, entered solemn protests against the violation of his hereditary rights, and those of his daughter. He had sent his daughter to Europe, and her destination was Vienna; but on touching at Gibraltar, and learning the events which had occurred in Portugal, she took counsel with the principal officers of her suite, and by their advice she sailed to England, where she was received with royal honours, and entertained with great hospitality and magnificence.

DISTURBANCES IN IRELAND.

During the two previous administrations, those of Mr. Canning and Lord Goderich, Irish agitation had been partially suppressed. The reason of this was that the Catholics had some hopes that government would grant their claims. When, however, the Duke of Wellington assumed the reins of government, hope fled, and Irish agitation instantly revived in full force. The cry of war was raised by its leaders, and they proceeded, aided by the Popish priesthood, to re-organize the Catholic Association. The first display of this united power was exhibited in a contested election for the county of Clare, when Mr. O'Connell adopted the novel experiment of offering himself a candidate for the representation. His opponent was Mr. Vesey Fitzgerald, an advocate for emancipation; but his votes and speeches were considered only as a mockery, while the government to which he belonged was based on the principle of exclusion; and Mr. O'Connell was declared duly returned. The agitator had pledged his professional character as a lawyer, not merely, that, although a Catholic, he was capable of being elected, but that he could sit and vote in the house of commons. After his election, a petition was presented against his return to the house of commons; but the season was so far advanced, that no decision could be pronounced upon it before the prorogation of parliament, and the matter rested as it was, Mr. O'Connell promising to demand his seat in the ensuing session. In the meantime this triumph of the Association urged them to arrange more extended plans of conquest; for it appeared that it might be practicable to carry into effect their threat of returning all the county members of Ireland. With these views a plan was formed and executed, with the aid and agency of the priests, to break that link which united the Catholic forty-shilling freeholders with their landlords. Certain tests were framed, and resolutions adopted, to reject every candidate who should decline a pledge to oppose the Duke of Wellington's administration, and to vote for parliamentary reform, as well as for the repeal of the subletting-act. The plan which the Association adopted to confirm and extend its power was well fitted to compass the objects it had in view. In almost every county liberal clubs were established, under the direction of the Association, for the purpose of receiving and adopting the pledges, and drilling the county to be in readiness to act upon them on the instant, if required. The agitators, indeed, restrained the Catholic peasantry from habitual outrage and lawless violence, but at the same time they assembled them in large companies, regularly trained for the exertion of physical force, and anxious for its display, if necessary. The state of Ireland at this period was powerfully portrayed by Mr. Shiel, at a meeting held in full force at Munster. He remarked:—"What has government to dread from our resentment in peace? An answer is supplied by what we actually behold. Does not a tremendous organization extend over the whole island? Have not all the natural bonds by which men are tied together been broken and burst asunder? Are not all the relations of society which exist elsewhere gone? Has not property lost its influence? Has not rank been stripped of the respect which should belong to it? And has not an internal government grown up, which, gradually superseding the legitimate authorities, has armed itself with a complete domination? Is it nothing that the whole body of the clergy are alienated from the state, and that the Catholic gentry, and peasantry, and priesthood are all combined in one vast confederacy? So much for Catholic indignation while we are at peace. And when England shall be involved in war,—I pause; it is not necessary that I should discuss that branch of the division, or point to the cloud which, charged with thunder, is hanging over our heads." As the year advanced, the state of the country of Ireland assumed a new and still more fearful aspect. Irritated by the violence of the agitators, alarmed at the menacing attitude of those who followed them, ready to do their bidding, and provoked by the apparent apathy of the British government, the Protestants began to unite in self-defence. The Orange-lodges which had ceased to exist, were now revived, with the grand lodge in Dublin as the centre of their operations: while new associations, under the title of "Brunswick clubs," which included in their lists the most influential classes, and contributed to break up society for the more extended indulgence of mutual animosity. These Protestant clubs had an extensive sway throughout the north, while the Catholic Association held the dominant sway throughout the south. The Association, however, made strenuous exertions to extend their sway even in the camp of the enemy. One Mr. Lawless, an appropriate name for an agitator, was sent thither as an apostle of agitation. This man traversed the different districts from parish to parish, assembling the people in crowds in the Catholic chapels, and addressed them with the usual incentives to steady animosity against their fellow-countrymen. He entered the towns at the head of immense multitudes; and though he was in the stronghold of Protestantism, yet he never allowed himself to be deterred from his mischievous enterprise by any apprehension of the consequences which might arise from bringing into contact multitudes already bitterly incensed against each other. He boasted of having entered Protestant towns at the head of twenty or thirty thousand Catholics, which appears to have been essentially correct. At first he met with no opposition in his wild career. The magistrates warned the people against joining in his processions, and even entreated the man himself to give up his mischievous crusade. On, however, the man went, until at length the people of the north were aroused to resist his progress. It was his custom to proclaim beforehand the day on which he was to make his entry into the different towns at the head of his legions; and, in accordance with this custom, he gave notice that he should "take possession" of the town of Armagh on the 30th of September. The Protestants of that town, however, resolved to impede his progress, and many of them marched into the city, armed, from all parts of the county. Mr. Lawless proceeded no further with this intention, and the Protestants quietly dispersed. He next announced his intention of entering Ballabay in the county of Monaghan; and here likewise the Protestants resolved to resist him. He was met in the vicinity of the town by a magistrate, who stated what the result would be, and prevailed on him to forego his intentions. Some of his followers, however, were less prudent; and a collision took place between the two parties, in which a Catholic was killed. Mr. Lawless returned to Carrickmacross to await further orders from the Association, at the same time declaring that he would visit all the strongholds of the Orangemen. It was plain to all the world, however, by this time that the Orangemen would not allow these tumultuous find insulting visits to be made without opposition. By the end of September, indeed, the two parties were prepared for a collision, the result of which it was impossible to foresee. The Association, however, began to fear that they had gone too far; and they were wise enough to foresee that if a collision took place the Catholics would be the losers. They boasted, indeed, great things; "that the might of the Catholics would crush the Orangemen into dust," &c, should a collision take place; but they felt to the contrary. They knew that Protestant Great Britain would interfere, and, as Mr. Shiel said, "cut them down in a week." "The Protestants," said the same powerful orator, "are becoming every day more alienated by our display of power. The great proprietors, and all men who have an interest in the security of the state, are anxious for the settlement of the question; but still their pride is wounded, and they see with disrelish the attitude of just equality which we have assumed, Our Protestant advocates, with few exceptions, declined the invitation to join in our late proceedings. As individuals, I hold them in no account; but I look upon their absence as a feature in the existing circumstances of the country. It is clear that the division between Catholic and Protestant is widening. They were before parted, but they are now rent asunder; and while the Catholic Association rises up from the indignant passions of our great body of the community, the Brunswick club is springing up out of the irritated pride and the sectarian rancour of the Protestants of Ireland. As yet they have not engaged in the great struggle; they have not closed in the combat; but as they advance upon each other, and collect their might, it is easy to discern the terrible passions by which they are influenced, and the fell determination with which they rush to the encounter. Meanwhile the government stand by, and the minister folds his arms as if he were a mere indifferent observer, and the terrific contest only afforded him a spectacle for the amusement of his official leisure. He sits as if two gladiators were crossing swords for his recreation. The cabinet seems to be little better than a box in an amphitheatre, from whence his majesty's ministers may survey the business of blood. There are three parties concerned, the Catholics, the Protestants, and the government: the Catholics advance upon the one hand; the Protestants upon the other; and the government, by whom all ought to be controlled, looks passively on." Alarmed at the position in which they had placed themselves, the agitators began somewhat to retrace their steps; or at least they adopted measures to secure peace. The Association on the 26th of September adopted these resolutions:—"1. That while we warmly congratulate the people of Tipperary upon the happy cessation of their feuds, we implore them to discontinue the holding of assemblies of the peculiar character which have recently taken place. 2. That we humbly entreat the Catholic clergy to co-operate with the Association in carrying the above resolution into effect. 3. That Daniel O'Connell, to whose influence deference should be made is hereby called upon to employ his powerful and deserved authority in deterring the people of Tipperary from the holding of such meetings, in an address to be printed and circulated at the expense of the Association. 4. That it be referred to the standing committee to report whether it be, or may become expedient, that a deputation shall be sent to Tipperary, and suggest such other measures, as shall be deemed advisable, in order to dissuade the people from holding such meetings." Mr. O'Connell issued an address to the people of the county of Tipperary, which enjoined them to obey the laws; and the storm which had threatened to burst over Ireland was allayed. The Catholic priests, sharing in the alarm of the agitators, enforced the directions of the address from their altars; and the threatened danger was prevented. When it was over, government exhibited symptoms of returning life: the lord-lieutenant issued a proclamation enjoining that which Mr. O'Connell had already done; namely, the discontinuance of large and armed meetings, as illegal and alarming. The only effect of this proclamation was to confirm Mr. Lawless in his resolution to proceed no further in his mission to the north; for the assemblies had disappeared before he ventured to call them in question. The apathy of the government at this crisis is scarcely to be accounted for, as it must have been clear to its members that the train was laid, and that it only required the application of the match to occasion a most terrible explosion. The only remarkable declaration which ministers substituted for active measures, consisted in a private letter sent by the Duke of Wellington to Dr. Curtis, Catholic primate of Ireland. In that letter he expressed an anxiety to witness the settlement of the Catholic question; but confessed that he saw no prospect of such a consummation; adding with a species of studied obscurity:—"If we could bury it in oblivion for a short time, I should not despair of a satisfactory result." A copy of this letter was sent to Mr. O'Connell, and he forthwith carried it to the Association, where it was received with plaudits as a declaration that the Duke of Wellington was now favourable to the Catholic claims. It was ordered to be recorded in their minutes as such, although it was not easy to foresee how such a conclusion could be adduced from the letter. This conclusion, however, was arrived at, and it naturally added to the exultation and confidence of the Catholics. This, however, was trifling compared with the mischiefs which followed. Dr. Curtis, in his reply to the duke, told him plainly, that the proposition to bury the question in oblivion for a time was inadmissible, and would only serve to exasperate those who were already excited. After this he sent a copy of the duke's letter, and of his answer to it, to the lord-lieutenant, the Marquis of Anglesea. His excellency's reply showed that he entertained different opinions on the contents of the duke's letter to those which the Catholics had deduced from it. At the same time he showed himself to be strongly in favour of the Catholic claims. The great agitator himself might have written the following sentences contained in his reply. After expressing his ignorance of the duke's intentions, and advising the Catholics to make much of him, to avoid provoking him or any other member of the government by personalities, to trust to the legislature, and to avoid brute force, he remarked:—"I differ from the opinion of the duke, that an attempt should be made to bury in oblivion the question for a short time; first, because the thing is utterly impossible; and next, if it were possible, I fear advantage might be taken of the pause, by representing it as a panic achieved by the late violent reaction, and by proclaiming, that if the government at once and peremptorily decided against concession, the Catholics would cease to agitate, and then all the miseries of the last years of Ireland will be reacted. I therefore recommend that the measure should not for a moment be lost sight of; that anxiety should continue to be manifested; that all constitutional means should be adopted to forward the cause, consistent with the most patient forbearance, and submissive obedience to the laws: that the Catholics should trust to the justice of their cause and to the growing liberality of mankind, but should not desist from agitation." For this advice the lord-lieutenant was extolled to the skies by the same lips which three years before had denounced him as an object of execration. The next wind, however, that blew from England brought the mandate which deprived him of office and recalled him from Ireland. This recall furnished him with an example of the value set on the advice which he had tendered to the Catholics not to insult and vilify any one, and especially the Duke of Wellington. At the first meeting of the Association after the recall of the Marquis of Anglesea was known, Mr. O'Connell remarked;—"In my own knowledge of Irish history, and I believe I know Ireland's history well, I never heard any thing so monstrously absurd as the recall of this gallant and high minded-man. The Duke of Wellington said he would be worse than mad if he became premier. He is therefore a self-convicted madman! And yet, gracious Heaven! he continues the insane pilot, who directs our almost tottering state." But if Mr. O'Connell had known the duke's intentions he would not have been thus abusive. On receiving his recall the Marquis of Anglesea is said to have divined immediately the true reason of his dismissal. He remarked:—"I know the duke: his mind is made up to emancipate the Catholics; and I am recalled, because he would have no one to share his victory." It is strange, but it is no less certain, that the latter part of this year was employed by the cabinet in testifying their repugnance to a measure? which it was their first act in the coming year to introduce.

DEATH OF THE EARL OF LIVERPOOL.

During the month of December the Earl of Liverpool, after various fluctuations of health, expired at Combewood. It has seldom happened that a minister ever acquired so much influence, or conciliated so much favour by the mere weight of personal character, as did his lordship. He was undistinguished by great brilliancy of genius or parliamentary eloquence; at the same time he possessed, what is infinitely superior, a sound judgment, with a mind well adapted to business, and stored with all that political knowledge which is requisite to make a great statesman. That which gained the confidence of the country, however, was his unquestionable integrity, and his open and manly conduct: he was never suspected of governing for mere party purposes, or of intriguing for the acquisition of power. It was the good of the country alone that he sought in all his actions. In his distribution of ecclesiastical preferment he set a splendid example to future premiers. Passing by parliamentary retainers, or those whose only claims are the ties of kindred and affinity, he made a careful selection of men of piety and talent for offices of dignity and responsibility in the church.

FOREIGN POLICY.

The foreign policy of our administration connected with Turkey and Portugal has already been noticed; those of France and Greece require a few words. In France the ministry of M. de Villéle had fallen last year, because they lent themselves to the designs of the court and the church, instead of consulting the growing spirit and intelligence of the nation. The new ministers forced upon the king by this triumph of the liberal party were men of moderate principles; and they were only tolerated by the king as a necessary evil At the head of them was M. Roy, who possessed a considerable knowledge of finance; but the rest were of very mediocre talent. At this time the priests and Jesuits were striving in France for the absolute control of public education, as the most effectual means of recovering their domination. This attempt was resisted by the people, who raised a loud cry of "No Jesuitism!" as in England there was formerly the cry of "No popery!" The new ministers took part with the nation; and in so doing opposed the wishes of the monarch. His majesty's speech also took a different view from our cabinet of the transaction at Navarino, thus showing that the new administration of France was hostile to our policy. The French, indeed, were in right earnest for the liberation of Greece from the power of the Ottoman Porte. In the autumn of this year the French government sent General Maison, with a strong military force, to the Morea, in order to liberate it from the hands of the Turks. On the 6th of October, the second day after Ibrahim had sailed, Navarino was summoned to surrender, and the demand was supported by a body of French troops under the walls, ready to commence operations. The Turkish governor replied, that the Porte was not at war with the French or the English, and that although no act of hostility would be committed by the Turks, yet the place would not be given up. The French soldiers, however, immediately set to work; and after making a hole in an old breach, they marched in and took possession of the place without opposition. A similar demand was made the same day of the governor of Modon; and the gates were forced open, and the garrison quietly submitted. Coron was more contumacious; but Coron, on learning the fate of Modon, followed its example, and opened its gates. The Castle of Patras had already shown the same complaisance; and the Morea castle alone remained in possession of the Turks. But this castle also, after sustaining a severe battery, surrendered; and by the end of November the Morea was freed from foreign control, and was left at liberty to select the course which she might choose to follow. It was left to the direction of its provisional government, at the head of which was the Count Capo d'Istria, who had been installed president early in the year. In his inaugural address the count told his countrymen that the first care of government should be to deliver them from anarchy, and to conduct them by degrees to national and political regeneration. He continued:—"It is only then you will be able to give the allied sovereigns the indispensable pledges which you owe them, in order that they may no longer doubt of the course which you will take to obtain the salutary object which led to the treaty of London, and the memorable day of October 20th. Before this period you have no right to hope for the assistance I have invoked for you, nor for anything which can serve the cause of good order at home, or the preservation of your reputation abroad." The president set himself sternly against the piratical habits by which independent Greece had disgraced herself; and he had sufficient authority to make the fleet, which was placed at his disposal, carry his orders into execution. As yet, neither he nor the government had enjoyed leisure to frame any system of finance; but he obtained a loan of money from Russia, and looked forward with confidence for subsidies from Great Britain and France. The question, however, which most engaged the attention of the Greek government was, what were to be the boundaries of their new state? It belonged to the allied powers and Turkey, indeed, to settle this matter; but the government had its own ideas upon the subject, as it was right and proper it should. A commission of the national assembly proposed to the allied powers that the northern mountains of Thessaly, and the course of the river Vioussa, should form its boundary on the north, to the exclusion of Macedonia; those limits, as they observed, seeming to be pointed out by nature herself, and as they had always gotten the better of political events. These considerations were ultimately set aside. And yet they were the very best that could have been adopted. It is true that this boundary would have included some districts which had taken no share in the national struggle, and would have excluded others which had taken an active part in the war; but still it was the most proper. The natural conformation of the line gave it a special political recommendation; and where boundaries do not coincide with some great natural features, but are lines arbitrarily laid down, they tend to tempt an usurper by the dangerous facility which they offer to violation. Sooner or later they produce discord between the neighbouring states. But all these considerations were set aside; and, indeed, at this time our government displayed much apathy on the subject of Greek independence.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

GEORGE IV. 1829—1830


     The Catholic Question..... Meeting of Parliament.....
     Suppression of the Catholic Association..... Rejection of
     Mr. Peel at Oxford..... The Triumph of Catholic
     Emancipation..... Bill for the Disfranchisement of the
     Forty-Shilling Freeholders..... The Case of Mr.
     O'Connell..... Financial Statements..... Motion for
     Parliamentary Reform..... Prorogation of Parliament.....
     State of  Affairs in Ireland..... Agricultural and
     Commercial Distress..... Affairs on the Continent.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

A. D. 1829

The recommendation of the late lord-lieutenant to agitate, was followed in Ireland to the very letter. When the Duke of Northumberland arrived in Dublin as his successor, he found agitation pervading the whole country. Protestants and Catholics alike were in the field, breathing defiance and revenge against each other, so that there was every prospect of a civil war. The premier's situation at the opening of the year, from this cause, was one of great and peculiar difficulty. The whole tenor of his political life had been marked by hostility to the Catholic claims; and every individual associated with him in the government was pledged to resist their claims. The time had arrived, however, at the opening of the year, when it became necessary for the Duke of Wellington to decide on some mode of action; either to determine not to yield, or to grant emancipation, or to retire from the helm of state for a season, and permit a Whig government to carry the measure. The course which he pursued astounded the nation. The wisest and most honourable course which his grace could have taken, would have been to have retired, since it was scarcely fair to steal the crown of victory from statesmen who, during the whole of their political career, had ably and eloquently pleaded the cause of the Catholics. Yet such was the course he adopted. Although he had declared that he saw no prospect of the settlement of the question, and although he had recalled the late lord-lieutenant because he favoured the Catholics, yet he was now determined to grant with a free and liberal hand all that they had ever demanded. Nor did his grace alone change his opinions on this subject. While the country was reposing confidence that the leading members of the government were still faithful to their trust, these very men had determined to go over to the Catholics; and in secrecy and silence were arranging plans for carrying out a broad measure of emancipation. The first thing they did was to obtain the consent of the king; a matter of no small difficulty, as his reluctance to concession was deep-rooted and vehement. It cost the premier months of management, vigilance, and perseverance, to overcome his majesty's antipathies; and it is probable that he would never have succeeded had it not been for the king's indolence and love of ease. A dissolution of the ministry would have interrupted his ease; and the thought of this overcame his repugnance to the question. Till his consent was obtained not a whisper had been heard of the change of sentiment which had taken place in the cabinet; but a few days before the meeting of parliament the grand secret was told. The surprise which the announcement excited was only equalled by the indignation and contempt roused by so sudden an abandonment of principle. The Protestant community complained—and very justly—that they had been deceived. Up to that period, indeed, they had been allowed to rest in the belief that the question would not be mooted, or if it were, that the influence of the cabinet would stand in its way; but these, their long-tried friends, had been planning and plotting how they might secure a triumph to their enemies. They had been trusted by the Protestant party as the champions of their cause; but on a sudden they were found offering the hand of friendship to their enemies. It certainly would have been more manly if they had, on resolving to change sides, fairly and honestly avowed it from the first, for then the Protestants would have had time to counteract their designs; but it was evident at the meeting ol parliament that all opposition would be useless. It was too late to make a successful stand against the measure: it must be carried.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament reassembled on the 5th of-February. The speech, which was again delivered by commission, detailed at length our foreign relations, and announced the continued improvement of the revenue. The all-absorbing topic of interest, however, was that which referred to the coming measure of Catholic emancipation. It remarked:—"The state of Ireland has been the object of his majesty's continued solicitude. His majesty laments that in that part of the United Kingdom an Association should still exist which is dangerous to the public peace, and inconsistent with the spirit of the constitution, which keeps alive discord and ill-will amongst his majesty's subjects; and which must, if permitted to continue, effectually obstruct every effort permanently to improve the condition of Ireland. His majesty confidently relies on the wisdom and on the support of his parliament; and his majesty feels assured that you will commit to him such powers as may enable his majesty to maintain his just authority. His majesty recommends that, when this essential object shall have been accomplished, you should take into your deliberate consideration the whole condition of Ireland; and that you should review the laws which impose civil disabilities on his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects. You will consider whether the removal of those disabilities can be effected consistently with the full and permanent security of our establishments in church and state, with the maintenance of the reformed religion established by law, and of the rights and privileges of the bishops and of the clergy of this realm, and of the churches committed to their charge. These are institutions which must ever be held sacred in this Protestant kingdom; and which it is the duty and the determination of his majesty to preserve inviolate. His majesty most earnestly recommends to you to enter upon the consideration of a subject of such paramount importance, deeply interest ing to the best feelings of his people, and involving the tranquillity and concord of the United Kingdom, with the temper and moderation which will best ensure the successful issue of your deliberations." The tendency of this recommendation to parliament was at once perceived by the advocates of exclusion; and they loudly complained of desertion and surprise, charging the duke with a perfidious concealment of his designs till the last moment, and loading Messrs. Peel and Goulbourn with the most bitter execrations, on account of their supposed apostasy. The usual addresses, however, were carried without a division.

SUPPRESSION OF THE CATHOLIC ASSOCIATION.

The first thing to be done was the vindication of the laws: laws which had been long trampled beneath the feet of the Catholic agitators. In pursuance of the recommendation in the royal speech to suppress the Catholic Association, on the 10th of February Mr. Peel asked leave to bring in a bill for that purpose. The general outline of the measure which he proposed was briefly this. It was his intention, he said, to commit the enforcement of the law to one person only; and to intrust to him, who was fully cognizant of the state of affairs in Ireland, and who was also responsible for the tranquillity of that country, the new powers with which the house were now asked to invest the executive government. He proposed to give the lord-lieutenant, and to him alone, the power of suppressing any association or meeting which he might deem dangerous to the public peace, or inconsistent with the due administration of the law; together with power to interdict the assembling of any meeting, of which previous notice should have been given, and which he should think likely to endanger the public peace, or to prove inconsistent with the due administration of the law. In case it should be necessary to enforce the provisions of the law by which these powers would be conferred, it was proposed, by Mr. Peel, that the lord-lieutenant should be further empowered to select two magistrates for the purpose of suppressing the meeting, and requiring the people immediately to disperse. Finally, it was proposed to prohibit any meeting or association which might be interdicted from assembling, or which might be suppressed under this act from receiving and placing at their control any monies by the name of "rent," or by any other name. In conclusion Mr. Peel said, that he was of opinion the act should, like that of 1825, which had been intended to suppress the Catholic and other associations, be limited; and he proposed to limit it to one year, and the end of the then next session of parliament. The bill passed both houses without opposition; for although its provisions were somewhat arbitrary in their nature, the friends of the Catholics voted for it as part of a system which was to result in Catholic emancipation. The associators, however, rendered the act unnecessary; for before it was completed, their dissolution was announced. They had gained their point, and for the present they were satisfied; they had demanded emancipation, unqualified emancipation, and nothing else; and when this was promised, when government submitted to their imperious demands, they put up the sword of defiance into its scabbard. The government boasted that they had suppressed the Association. But such a boast, as it has been justly observed, was as if a man should boast of his victory over a highwayman to whom he exclaims, when the pistol is at his breast, "Down with your pistol, Sir, and you shall have my purse and my watch:" the robber would have the best of it, and so had the Association.

REJECTION OF MR. PEEL AT OXFORD.

The University of Oxford had elected Mr. Peel as a champion to the Protestant cause; and when his mind underwent the change it manifested on the subject of Catholic emancipation, he could not in common decency or honesty retain his seat as member for that University. Under these circumstances he addressed a letter to the vice-chancellor, announcing his new views of policy by which he was to be guided, acknowledging that his resistance to the Catholic claims had been one main ground of his election by the University, and tendering his resignation. Mr. Peel, however, was proposed as a candidate at the new election, trusting that he might skill sit as the representative for Oxford in parliament. But in this he was disappointed. He had for an opponent Sir Robert Harry Inglis; and though the united influence of the Whigs was pushed to its utmost limit in behalf of the Home Secretary, Sir Robert Inglis, who was supported by the dignitaries of the church, and by the parochial clergy, was elected. Mr. Peel was subsequently returned for the borough of Westbury; and in this character he brought forward those measures which for twenty years he had repudiated as dangerous and ruinous to the best interests of the country, and which even now he was convinced were pregnant with danger to the constitution.

THE TRIUMPH OF CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.

On the 5th of March Mr. Peel moved "that the house resolve itself into a committee of the whole house to consider of the laws imposing civil disabilities on his majesty's Roman Catholic subjects." He commenced by stating, that, he rose as a minister of the king to vindicate the advice which an united cabinet had given to his majesty to recommend to the consideration of parliament the condition of the Catholics, and to submit to the house measures for carrying such recommendation into effect. He was aware, he said, that the subject was surrounded with difficulties; which difficulties were increased by the relation in which he himself stood to the question. Having, however, come to the honest conviction that the time had arrived, when an amicable adjustment of the disputed claims would be accompanied with less danger than any other course that could be suggested, he was prepared to act on that conviction, unchanged by the forfeiture of public confidence, or by the heavy loss of private friendship. He had long felt, he said, that with a house of commons favourable to emancipation, his position as a minister opposed to it was untenable; and he showed that he had more than once intimated his desire to resign office, and thus remove one obstacle to a settlement of the question. He had done so on the present occasion, though at the same time he notified to the Duke of Wellington, that seeing how the current of public opinion lay, he was ready to support the measure, provided it were undertaken on principles from which no danger to the Protestant establishment need be apprehended. He was aware, he said, that he was called on to make out a case for this change of policy; and he was now about to submit to the house a statement which proved to his own mind, with the force of demonstration that ministers were imperatively called on to recommend the measure, however inconsistent it might appear with their former tenets. The argument by which the case was made out by Mr. Peel resolved itself into the following propositions:—First, matters could not remain in their present state, the evils of divided councils being so great, that something must be done, and a government formed with a common opinion on the subject. Secondly, a united government once constituted must do one of two things—either grant further political rights to the Catholics, or recall those which they already possess. Thirdly, to deprive them of what they already have would be impossible; or at least would be infinitely more mischievous than to grant them more: therefore, no case remained to be adopted but that of concession. Having illustrated these propositions at great length, and with much force of argument, Mr. Peel proceeded to explain the nature of the measure which he and his colleagues proposed as that which ought finally to settle and adjust the question. The principle and basis of the measure was to be, he said, the abolition of civil distinctions and the equality of political rights, with a few exceptions only. Another pervading principle would be, in fact and in word, the maintenance of the Protestant religion as by law established, its doctrines, its discipline, and government. First of all, he would repeal those laws which placed Catholics, unless they took certain oaths, on a different footing from Protestants even in regard to real property; a distinction which Protestants and Catholics were equally interested in abolishing. The next provision would be the admission of Catholics to parliament on the same terms with Protestants; for unless this was granted, all other concessions of political power would be of no avail. The bill would, also, render Catholics admissible to all corporate offices in Ireland, and all offices connected with the administration of justice, and to all the higher civil offices of the state. He was aware, he said, of the objection as to the last; but having once resolved to yield political power, this could not be refused. In order to leave the avenues of ambition open to the Roman Catholic, he was of opinion that we ought to render him capable of being employed in the service of the country. As regards the oaths to be taken, it necessarily followed from their concessions, he said, that they should be modified. In the new oath, the Catholic would be called on to swear allegiance in the usual terms; to disclaim the deposing power of the pope, and the doctrine that his holiness had any temporal or civil power, directly or indirectly, within the realm; solemnly to abjure any intention of subverting the church establishment; and to bind himself not to employ any of his privileges to weaken the Protestant religion or government. As regarded the exceptions from the general rule, Mr. Pitt said that they lay within a narrow compass, and related to duties or offices connected with the established church. The only offices he meant to exclude Catholics from were those of lord-lieutenant, or chief governor of Ireland, and of lord high chancellor, or keeper, or commissioner of the great seal. He meant, however, to exclude Catholics from appointments in any of the Universities or Colleges, and from exercising any right of presentation, as lay patrons, to the benefices and dignities of the church of England. In the bill, also, there were certain prohibitions against carrying the insignia of office to places of Roman Catholic worship, and against the assumption, by prelates of that communion, of the same episcopal titles as those belonging to the church of England. There were also certain precautions against the increase of monastic institutions, particularly that of the Jesuits. A more effective check, however, on the consequences which might result from admitting Roman Catholics in Ireland to civil power, was meditated in a law for raising the qualification of the elective franchise, in counties, from forty shillings to ten pounds: by which means that privilege would be limited to persons really possessed of property, and less liable to be misled by the priests. After detailing the features of the plan in a speech which occupied more than four hours, Mr. Peel remarked:—"And now, although I am not so sanguine as others in my expectations of the future, I have not the slightest hesitation in saying, I fully believe that the adjustment of this question in the manner proposed will not only give much better and stronger securities to the Protestant interest and establishment than any other that the present state of things admits of, but will also avert evils and dangers impending and immediate. I might have taken a more popular and palatable course: more popular with the individuals in concert with whom I long thought and acted, more palatable to the constituents whom I have lost; but I have consulted for the best, for Protestant interests and our Protestant establishment. This is my defence against the accusations I have endured; this is my consolation under the sacrifices I have made; this shall be my revenge. I trust that, by the means now proposed, the moral storm may lie lulled into a calm, the waters of strife may subside, and the elements of discord be stilled and composed. But if these expectations be disappointed; if unhappily civil strife and contentions shall arise; if the differences existing between us do not spring out of artificial distinctions and unequal privileges, but if there be something in the character of the Roman Catholic religion not to be contented with a participation of equal privileges, or with anything short of superiority, still I shall be content to make the trial. If the battle must be fought; if the contest which we would now avoid cannot be averted by those means, let the worst come to the worst—the battle will be fought for other objects, the contest will take place on other grounds; the contest then will be, not for an equality of civil rights, but for the predominance of an intolerant religion. If those more gloomy predictions shall be realized, and if our more favourable hopes shall not be justified by the result, we can fight that battle against the predominance of an intolerant religion more advantageously after this measure shall have been passed than we could do at present. We shall then have the sympathy of other nations; we shall have dissolved the great moral alliance that existed among the Roman Catholics: we shall have with us those great and illustrious authorities that long supported this measure, and which will then be transferred to us, and ranged upon our side: and I do not doubt that in that contest we shall be victorious, aided as we shall be by the unanimous feeling of all classes of society in this country, as demonstrated in the numerous petitions presented to this house, in which I find the best and most real securities for the maintenance of our Protestant constitution; aided, I will add, by the union of orthodoxy and dissent, by the assenting voice of Scotland; and, if other aid be necessary, cheered by the sympathies of every free state, and by the wishes and prayers of every free man, in whatever clime, or under whatever form of government he may live."

The motion was not very powerfully opposed. The principal speakers in opposition were Sir Robert Inglis and Mr. Estcourt, the two members of Oxford University. The chief argument used was an assumption that the grant of equal privileges to Roman Catholics would be the destruction of the Protestant establishment. With regard to Ireland, it was said that discord and agitation were not new features in the condition of that country; that they were not a result of the penal laws; and that they would not cease on the removal of civil disabilities. As regarded the fear of civil war, it was remarked that reliance ought to have been placed on public opinion, and the moral determination of the British people. At best, too, it was argued, the evil days would only be postponed, and resistance to ulterior struggles rendered more difficult. It was asked, with respect to the divided state of the cabinet, why the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel, instead of changing their own line of policy, did not rather attempt to bring over their colleagues to their views, especially as they still confessed that there was danger in granting Catholic emancipation. Ministers were also taunted with conceding the question from intimidation; a fact which was evident in the provisions, called securities, against the danger of admitting the Catholics to wield the civil, judicial, and military powers of the state. If Mr. Peel and other converts, it was said, thought they could no longer resist, because they had not a majority in the house of commons, why did they refuse to accept a majority? Why was not parliament dissolved? Such a course, it was argued, was right at any time, when a measure strongly affecting the constitution was contemplated; and it was peculiarly necessary in the present instance, when the country had been deceived into a security, of which those who had practised the deception were now seeking to take advantage. The Marquis of Blandford even maintained, that if the house sanctioned the present audacious invasion of the constitution, it would break the trust reposed in it by the people of England, who were taken by surprise by the unexpected announcement made by ministers. Was it right, he asked, for the government to persist in measures to which public feeling was so strongly opposed? Constituted as the house was then, it did not express the just alarms of the people for the safety of the Protestant institutions of the country. As regards the securities proposed by ministers, they were treated with contempt. Viscount Corry said, that he had in vain looked for them: with the exception of the forty-shilling franchise being raised to ten pounds, there was no attempt at securities; and even that was a half measure.

The motion was supported by Sir. G. Murray, colonial secretary, and by Messrs. Grant, North, and Iiuskisson. These members repeated and enforced the positions that the pacification of Ireland was necessary to the safety of the empire; and that without emancipation pacification could not be effected. All classes in Ireland, it was argued, had identified themselves with the question, and Ireland had hence fallen into a state in which it was impossible for it to remain: it must either advance or recede; for all the ties which held society together had been loosened or broken. It was conceded that a certain state of things, not deserving the name of society, might be maintained by means of the sword; but such a frame of society, it was added, could have no analogy whatever to the British constitution. The only intimidation to which ministers could be accused of yielding, was the fear of continuing such a state of affairs, and aggravating all its evils by gradual accumulation, instead of restoring mutual good-will and the peaceful empire of the law. No other intimidation existed: none was felt in Ireland; for what was the force of an unarmed multitude when measured against the force of the state? The power of the Catholics was as nothing. But when it was considered what effects might arise from disunion; when it was considered that a spirit of resentment was growing up, which roused men against each other, there did appear a kind of intimidation, of a nature which did not admit of contempt. The Protestant body—at least the body which arrogated to itself that title—knew the enthralment under which they had held the Catholics, and that an unarmed multitude must submit. But were we, it was asked, to destroy one part of the people, by rousing and inciting the other? It was rather the duty of government to protect the whole; to ensure them the greatest degree of protection; and to give to the people all the privileges they had a right to enjoy. To those who urged a dissolution of parliament, it was answered, that parliament as it existed was as capable of discussing the question now, as any parliament had been at any time during the last twenty-five years; that the question was a fit one for the consideration of the house of commons at all times; and that it was particularly fit for their consideration when it came recommended from the throne, as necessary for the safety and peace of the United Kingdom. A dissolution of parliament, remarked Mr. Peel, must leave the Catholic Association and the elective franchise in Ireland just as they were. If parliament were dissolved, the Catholic Association must be left as it was, as the common law was inadequate to suppress it; and being so left, it would overturn the representation of Ireland. Whatever majority might be returned from Great Britain, Ireland would return eighty or ninety members in the interest of the Association, forming a compact body, against the force of which it would be impossible to carry on the local government of the country. It had, indeed, been said, "Increase the army, or the constabulary force;" but a greater force could not be employed there. He would state one simple fact. Above five-sixths of the infantry had been engaged in aiding the government of Ireland, as by interposing between two hostile parties. Under such circumstances a reaction would compel them gradually to this alternative; namely, instead of resting the civil and social government on its base, to narrow it and to rest it on its apex. It was also denied that there was anything peculiar in the nature of the proposed measure to require a special appeal to the people, since it was incorrectly called a violation of the constitution. That constitution, it was argued, was not to be sought for solely in the acts of 1688: its foundations had been laid much earlier; laid by Catholic hands, and cemented with Catholic blood. But, even taking the compact of 1688 to be the foundation of our rights and liberties, yet the most diligent opponent of the Catholic claims would be unable to point out in the Bill of Rights a single clause by which the exclusion of Roman Catholics from seats in parliament was declared to be a fundamental, or indispensable principle of the British constitution; that bill merely regarded the liberties guaranteed to the people, and the protection of the throne from the intrusion of Popery. To the objection that the measure now contemplated was unconditional concession, concession without a single security for the Protestant establishment, it was answered, that principles of exclusion were not the securities to which the established religion either did trust, or ought to trust. The real securities of Protestantism would remain, unaffected by this bill, in the unalterable attachment of the people, who, though divided on minor topics, would unite in resisting the errors of Popery. The house, it was said, should also look at the great security which they would derive from the generous attachment of the people of Ireland, who, after ages of oppression, would find themselves restored to their place in society. Moreover, the securities which the bill contained were not so nugatory as they had been represented. Mr. Peel said, that when he looked at the petitions sent from all parts of the country, he could not help being struck with one extraordinary coincidence. These petitions prayed for those securities; and the prayers of them were similar, whether they came from the county of Wicklow, or from the county of Armagh, &c.; that it was impossible to arrive at any other conclusion than that those prayers, and the terms in which they were conveyed, had been suggested by one common head and source. And what were the securities prayed for? Why, the first was, "Put down the Catholic Association;" the second, "Correct the elective franchise of Ireland;" and the third, "Abolish for the future the order of the Jesuits in this country." Now the bill which he proposed contained all these securities; and if the necessity of obtaining them were so great as the petitioners contended, let him be answered this question: "Would the Protestants ever have had the least chance of obtaining them if his majesty had not recommended that the disabilities of the Catholics should be taken into consideration, with the view to an adjustment of this question? Could any man say it was possible, though the unanimous voice of the Protestants of Ireland declared those securities to be necessary, that any one of them could have been obtained, unless a proposal or adjustment had been made?" On a division the motion was carried by a majority of three hundred and forty-eight against one hundred and sixty; a preponderance which, as regarded the house of commons, was decisive of the ultimate fate of the question.

Resolutions, proposed by Mr. Peel in the committee, were immediately agreed to; and a bill founded on them was introduced and read for the first time on the 10th of March. The opponents of the measure allowed the first reading to take place without opposition, it being arranged that the debate on the principle of the bill should take place on the second reading. That reading was fixed for the 17th, on which day it was moved by Mr. Peel. The motion led to a very warm debate. Sir Edward Knatchbull strongly attacked Mr. Peel on the desertion of his principles, as well as other members of the government, asserting that from it the confidence which had hitherto been accorded to public men, had received a blow from which it never would recover. Mr. Goulburn admitted that he had adopted new opinions on this subject; but he had done so, he said, because it was impossible that any other thing could be wisely done in the present state of Ireland. He contended that the measure proposed was calculated to give more complete ascendancy to the Protestant establishment, by diminishing the irritation, and removing the prejudices of its opponents. He argued, that it would also have the effect of causing the people to treat the ministers of the Protestant church with the respect and attention to which their character and virtues so eminently entitled them; and that it was only under such circumstances that the church could be employed as an important engine in the moral improvement of the people. These notions, however, were ridiculed by Mr. G. Bankes, who contended that, although the house did not surrender all the rights of the Protestant church at once, they gave the Catholics the first stepping-stone for reaching everything they might desire. It was admitted, he said, that the adherents of the Catholic faith would struggle for ascendancy; and that this bill was to give them the political power which would be the great instrument used in the struggle: and how a bill which did all this would tend to the security of the Protestant church surpassed human comprehension. The very framers of the measure saw the absurdity and the danger which it was employed to conceal; and they had endeavoured to obviate the danger by a precaution which proved its existence, but was impotent to prevent it. They had devised this remedy—that when the prime minister happened to be a Roman Catholic, all power connected with the established church should be vested in the hands of commissioners. But who was to appoint the commissioners? Why the prime minister. Lord Tullamore followed in a similar strain. Ministers, he said, had themselves given the tone on the opposite side of the question at public meetings; they had sat at the festive board, hearing with approbation the avowal of sentiments which they themselves had avowed, but now disclaimed completing the picture drawn by the poet—


     "Drunk at a borough, civil at a ball.
     Friendly at Hackney, faithless at Whitehall."

The measure was supported by Lord Palmerston and Sir George Murray with much eloquence and animation; but the speech which on this occasion claimed and deserved the greatest attention from the house was that of Mr. Sadler, a man of distinguished abilities, who had recently been returned to parliament for the borough of Newark, by the Duke of Newcastle's interest. He rose, he said, to add his humble vote to that faithful band who had resigned the countenance of those whom they had hitherto deeply respected; who had surrendered, in the language of many, all pretensions to common sense or general information; who are branded as intolerants and bigots, from whom ministers had happily escaped; and, what was still more painful to generous minds, who were ranked among those that were as devoid of true liberality and benevolence, as of reason and intelligence. He continued: "All these things, however, move us not. In a cause like that of the Protestant constitution of England, now placed for the first time since its existence in a situation of imminent peril, an humble part in its triumph would indeed give me a share of that unmeasurable joy which its rescue would diffuse throughout the nation; but to be numbered as one of those who, faithful to the end, made a last though ineffectual struggle in its defence, will afford a melancholy satisfaction, which I would not exchange for all the pride, and power, and honours which may await a contrary course." After this preamble, Mr. Sadler argued at great length against the principles of the bill, and its dangerous tendency toward the Protestant church: and showed its utter futility in remedying the evils which oppressed, or repaying the wrongs which she had suffered from so many generations. He remarked:—"Ireland degraded, deserted, oppressed, pillaged, is turbulent; and you listen to the selfish recommendations of her agitators. You seek not to know, or knowing you wilfully neglect, her real distresses. If you can calm the agitated surface of society, you heed not that fathomless depth of misery, sorrow, and distress whose troubled waves heave unseen and disregarded: and this, forsooth, is patriotism, Ireland asks of you bread, and you proffer her Catholic emancipation: and this, I presume, is construed to be the taking into our consideration, as his majesty recommended, the whole situation of Ireland." As regards the nature of the measure, Mr. Sadler contended that it could only be described as an inroad on the constitution of the country, and a preparatory movement towards its final destruction. The securities, also, were treated by him as vague and unsatisfactory. Matters, he said, had reached such a point of noisy and dangerous discord between parties in Ireland, that ministers contended there must be an adjustment of the question. Adjustment generally terminated in mutual concessions and reciprocal advantages: but would the authors of this bill point out what it gave to the Protestant constitution for that which it took away? The Protestant faith surrendered everything, it received nothing. As a security, the office of viceroy, an office of pageantry, was to continue Protestant: but what Protestant cared an iota about it, when its holder was to be surrounded with Popish advisers, and to act by Popish instruments? The king, too, it seems, must still continue to be a Protestant. This reservation was the worst of all, and heightened every objection to the measure into abhorrence and disgust. "What!" he continued, "after establishing by a solemn act the doctrine that conscience ought to be free and unrestrained; that disabilities like that sought to be removed, inflict a wound upon the feelings of those whom they reach, intolerable to good and generous minds, worse than persecution, than even death itself, how do you apply it? Why you propose to sear this brand high upon the forehead, and deep into the heart of your very prince, while you render the scar more visible, and the insult more poignant, by making him the solitary individual, whose hereditary rank must be held and transmitted by the disgraceful tenure which you have stigmatized as the badge of slavery. Freedom of conscience to all subjects, but none to your king! Throw open the portals of legislation, that a Duke of Norfolk may take his seat in your senate; but hurl from his loftier seat there, the throne of the realm, a Duke of Lancaster, if he exercise the same privilege, and presume to have a conscience! Hitherto the British constitution has been fair, uniform, equal, demanding from all the same moral qualification. That qualification has long been declared, by a certain school of politicians, to be slavery. Ministers have now adopted their creed; yet they are content, nay, they propose, that the king shall be the only proclaimed slave in his dominions. Worse than this, however, remained behind: the proposed measure not only hurt the feelings of the monarch, it touched his title. It was a bill to reverse the attainder which had been passed upon Popery, and the natural consequences of this reversal were obvious. The privileges of Protestantism were the title-deeds of the royal family to the throne, the actual transfer of the estate which the king held in parliament and in the country. It was Protestant ascendancy now become a term of reproach, and Protestant ascendancy alone, that introduced the royal line that rules us; it was that which still formed the foundation of the throne, which combined its title with the very elements of the constitution, identified it with our liberty, consecrated it with the sanctities of our religion, and proclaimed our monarch king by the unanimous suffrages of all our institutions. The act of settlement indeed was to remain; and though it had been passed with difficulty by a parliament exclusively Protestant, it would of course be zealously maintained by a parliament partly Catholic: but still this was to remove the royal title from the broad foundation of national principles, supported by all the analogies of the constitution, and place it upon a mere act of parliament, or rather upon an exception from that act: whatever became of the legal title, the moral title of the king would be touched. But," continued Mr. Sadler, "the intended change of the constitution was doubly objectionable on account of its unavoidable consequences. He contended that it would put the real liberties of the people in jeopardy; and that the united church of England and Ireland would be placed in peril by it, the moment it was passed. The real object of the attack was the establishment, or rather its principles and immunities. The war had begun; the siege commenced: the first parallel was nearly completed; the very leaders of the garrison were summoning a bold and numerous band of fresh assailants to the attack; and the approaches would be carried on till a final triumph was obtained over the most tolerant, the most learned, and the most efficient establishment which any country had ever yet been blessed with. And could any man, he asked, flatter himself that even when this was destroyed, a long and uninterrupted reign of quietness and peace would ensue? When this victim had been hunted down, the same pack would scent fresh game, and the cry against our remaining institutions would be renewed with double vigour, till nothing remained worth attack or defence. An oath was certainly to be taken, verbally forbidding Roman Catholics from harming the establishment; but they must be more or less than men to be enabled to keep such an oath. It was even immoral to present it to them: it established a war between words and principles, oaths and conscience: and which of these would finally prevail needed no explanation. That Roman Catholics once seated in the house should not feel disposed to lessen the influence, and finally to destroy a church which they abhorred was impossible; and that they should not make common cause for a similar purpose with other parties inspired by similar views was equally impossible. Much, it was true, had been said about the weakness of such a party in point of numbers; but a party acting invariably in unison on this point would ultimately carry it, and with it, all others of vital importance." Referring to the apologies which had been made for these portentous changes, Mr. Sadler said that the country had been beguiled by them. He continued:—"I was one of those who thought the conduct of the noble and right honourable individuals who resigned in 1827 a sacrifice to principle and consistency: what it really was, it is now not worth while to inquire, since it was anything than that. It is now too late to rectify the error; all that remains is to regret most deeply, that, faithfully following those who have so secretly, suddenly, and unceremoniously deserted us, we were taught to regard a highly gifted individual, unhappily now no more, as one who ought not to serve his king and country as the head of the government, because he was favourable to the measure now so indecently forced upon the country. I do heartily repent of my share in the too successful attempt of hunting down so noble a victim; a man whom England and the world recognise as its ornament, whose eloquence was, at these days at least, unrivalled, the energies of whose capacious mind, stored with knowledge and elevated by genius, were devoted to the service of his country. This was the man with whom the present ministers could not act, and for a reason which vitiates their present doings. Coupling, therefore, that transaction with the present, if the annals of our country furnish so disgraceful a page, I have very imperfectly consulted them. But peace to his memory! My humble tribute is paid when it can be no longer heard nor regarded—when it is drowned by the voice of interested adulation now poured only into the ears of the living. He fell; but his character is reserved, it rises and triumphs over that of his surviving,—what shall I call them? Let their own consciences supply the hiatus." Having paid this eloquent tribute to Mr. Canning, a tribute as just also as it is eloquent, Mr. Sadler contended that it was the duty of ministers to have gone to the people, since the invasion of the constitution, bad in itself and ruinous in its consequences, was beyond the power of parliament. The people of England, he continued, had not sent the members of the house of commons for the purpose of throwing open the doors of that house to the admission of Popery, to the scandal, disgrace, and danger of the Protestant establishment in church and state. He added in conclusion:—"Be assured they will resent it deeply and permanently if we proceed. I know how dear this sacred, this deserted cause is to the hearts and to the understandings of Englishmen. The principle may be indeed weak in this house, but abroad it marches in more than all its wonted might, attended, in spite of the aspersions of all its enemies, by the intelligence, the religion, the loyalty of the country; and if the honest zeal, nay, even the cherished prejudices of the people, swell its train, thank God for the accession. Here, sir, that cause, like those wasting tapers, may be melting away: there it burns unextinguishably. It lives abroad, though this house, which is its cradle, may be now preparing its grave. To their representatives the people committed their dearest birthright, the Protestant constitution, and have not deserted it, whoever has. If it must perish, I call God to witness that the people are guiltless. Let it, then, expire in this spot, the place of its birth, the scene of its long triumphs, betrayed, deserted in the house of its pretended friends, who while they smile are preparing to smite; let it here, while it receives blow after blow from those who have hitherto been its associates and supporters, fold itself up in its mantle, and, hiding its sorrow and disgrace, fall when it feels the last stab at its heart from the hand of one whom it had armed in its defence, and advanced to its highest honours."

Mr. R. Grant on the other side contended that it was in vain to speak of applying to the evils of Ireland such cures as it was supposed might be found in the establishment of poor-laws, or the compulsory residence of the absentees: even if the expediency of these measures was assumed, this was not the proper time for their application: the question at present was, how existing discontent might be allayed, how the raging pestilence might be stopped. It was only after that had been done, that preventives could rationally be suggested, and it was only by removing the grievances of which Ireland complained, that that object could be effected. Although the evils of Ireland, he said, had been traced to many causes these causes themselves, even where they existed, were but the effects of the political distinctions founded on the difference of the religious creeds. The house had been told, for instance, to seek for the source of these evils in the local oppressions practised in Ireland, rather than in the general restrictive laws. Of local oppression, no doubt, plenty had always existed, but it had existed merely because the adherents of one creed were armed with power to oppress the believers in another faith, who were vested with no power. The same mischiefs, it was said, existed before the Reformation, when all Ireland was of one religion. True: and they had existed, just because, even before the Reformation, the same system of excluding the natives from political power had been long followed, though on different grounds. What Sir John Davies, who wrote in the days of Elizabeth, stated to be the cause of the evils of Ireland in his time, was in force still:—"From the earliest times," said that writer of the English government of Ireland, "it seemed to be the rule of policy that the native Irish should someway or other be not admitted to the privileges of the constitution equally with the English residents. And in order to perpetuate the ascendancy of the latter, the governors of Ireland had determined to oppress the former as much as possible. Accordingly, it has been the system of rule in that country, for the last four hundred years, to attempt by all manner of means to root out the native Irish altogether." That system had been acted on since the time of Sir John Davis in some form or other, and with consequences which would last so long as the laws against the Catholics remained unrepealed. This inequality of political power, then, was the cause; and by removing it, an end would be put to the turbulence and exasperation to which it gave birth. Mr. Grant further argued that this might be done without injury to the constitution, and that the constitution did not recognise any principle of exclusion against any portion of the community. Its essence, he said, was the communication of its protection and privileges to all. Lord Palmerston followed on the same side. He admitted that if the question were, whether we should have any Catholics at all; whether the religion throughout the empire should be exclusively Protestant; then all Ireland should be made Protestant. But this was not possible, Catholics there were, and Catholics there must be. There they were, good or bad; and, whether their tenets were wholesome or unwholesome, the persons holding them were six millions in number, and they were seated in the very heart of the empire. What, then, he asked, were we to do with them, since we were not able to exterminate them? Were we to make them our enemies, fiercer and more inveterate in proportion as we persecuted them? or were we by kindness and conciliation to convert them into friends? The latter was clearly the more expedient and desirable in itself, unless it were accompanied by some imminent danger. He called upon the house to turn the materials of discord into strength, and to imitate the skilful and benevolent physician, who from deadly herbs extracted healing balms, and made that the means of health which others, less able, or less good, used for the purposes of destruction.

Of all declaimers against the bill, Sir Charles Wetherell, the attorney-general, was the most violent. He had refused to draw up this bill in his official capacity; but he still remained in office, under a minister who was understood to have made implicit submission to his word of command the tenure by which office was to be held. Knowing that nothing but the difficulty of supplying his place prevented his discharge, he delivered a speech of defiance to his colleagues in office, which produced a great impression in the house and throughout the country. In explaining his objection to frame this bill, he said,—"When my attention was drawn to the framing of this bill, I felt it my duty to look over the oath taken by the lord chancellor, as well as that taken by the attorney-general; and it was my judgment, right or wrong, that, when desired to frame this bill, I was called to draw a bill subversive of the Protestant church, which his majesty was bound by his coronation-oath to support. If his majesty chose to dispense with the obligations of the coronation-oath, he might do so; but I would do no act to put him in jeopardy. These are the grounds on which I refused, and would refuse a hundred times over, to put one line to paper of what constitutes the atrocious bill now before the house. Hundreds of those who now listen to me must remember the able, valuable, and impressive speech delivered two years ago by the present lord-chancellor, then master of the rolls, and a member of this house. It will also be in the recollection of hundreds that that eminent individual, than whom none is more acute in reasoning, more classical in language, and more powerful in delivery, quarrelled with the late Mr. Canning on this very subject. Am I then to blame for refusing to do that, in the subordinate office of attorney-general, which a more eminent adviser of the crown, only two years ago, declared he would not consent to do? Am I, then, to be twitted, taunted, and attacked? I dare them to attack me. I have no speech to eat up. I have no apostasy disgracefully to explain. I have no paltry subterfuge to resort to. I have not to say that a thing is black one day and white another. I have not been in one year a Protestant master of the rolls, and in the next a Catholic lord-chancellor. I would rather remain as I am, the humble member for Plympton, than be guilty of such apostasy; such contradiction; such unexplainable conversion; such miserable, contemptible, apostasy." As for the bill itself, Sir Charles stated, that when it was dissected and anatomized, it destroyed itself. It admitted the danger, and yet provided no security for Protestants. He would not have condescended to stultify himself by the composition of such a bill. The folly and contradictions be upon the heads of those who drew it. They might have turned him out of office; but he would not be made such a dirty tool as to draw that bill. "Let who would, he would no-t defile pen, or waste paper, by such an act of folly, and forfeit his character for common sense and honesty."

This attack of the attorney-general called up Mr. Peel, who closed the debate. After complaining of the violence of his colleague, he reverted to the grounds on which he had first proposed the bill; again urging the state of Ireland, and the absolute necessity of doing something; the inability of his opponents to do anything better, though they vehemently opposed the measure now offered; the impossibility of any government standing which should set itself on avowed principles against concession; and the folly of treating the question as one which had any connexion with religion. The Catholics were never excluded at any time because of their religious creed; they were excluded for a supposed deficiency of civil worth, and the religious test was applied to them, not to detect the worship of saints, or any other tenet of their religion, but as a test to discover whether they were Roman Catholics. It was a test to discover the bad, intriguing subject, not the religionist; and, therefore, when he parted with the declaration against transubstantiation, it was not from any doubt which he entertained as to the doctrines of the Roman Catholics, but from looking at it as a test of exclusion, and from thinking that, when the exclusion was deemed unnecessary, the test of exclusion, might be dispensed with. Mr. Peel complained grievously that an unfair application had been made of his unhappy phrase, that the proposed measure would be "a breaking in upon the constitution of 1688." He meant no more, he said, than that there would be an alteration in the words of the Bill of Rights: and if an alteration of its words were a breaking in upon the constitution, then had the constitution been often broken in upon. He called upon the house to consider the altered position of affairs in Ireland since the annunciation of this measure had been made; and warned it that if the bill was rejected, it would be attended with consequences fatal to the repose of the empire. He added, "I am well aware that the fate of this measure cannot now be altered: if it succeed, the credit will redound to others; if it fail, the responsibility will devolve upon me, and upon those with whom I have acted. These chances, with the loss of private friendship, and the alienation of public confidence, I must have foreseen and calculated before I ventured to recommend these measures. I assure the house that, in conducting them, I have met with the severest blow which it has ever been my lot to experience in my life; but I am convinced that the time will come, though I may not live perhaps to see it, when full justice will be done by men of all parties to the motives on which I have acted; when this question will be fully settled, and when others will see that I had no other alternative than to act as I have acted. They will then admit that the course which I have followed, and which I am still prepared to follow, whatever imputation it may expose me to, is the only course which is necessary for the diminution of the undue, illegitimate, and dangerous power of the Roman Catholics, and for the maintenance and security of the Protestant religion."

The result of the division on this great question was three hundred and fifty-three for the second reading of the bill, and one hundred and eighty against it. The success of the bill in the commons was therefore certain; and it passed the committee in three days. During its progress in the committee several amendments were moved by the opponents of the bill, but they were all rejected; and on the 31st of March it was carried up to the lords by Mr. Peel, with an unusually large escort of members. It was immediately read a first time; and the Duke of Wellington then moved that it should be read a second time on the 2nd of April. This motion was opposed by Lord Bexley and the Earl of Malmesbury, as too precipitate, urging that on all former occasions a longer time had been allowed for consideration, and that breathless haste was the conduct of men called upon to decide as another dictated, rather than of legislators called to deliberate on a grave matter of public policy. Lord Holland, however, justified the motion, by referring to the haste with which the statutes about to be repealed had been originally passed: and it was carried without a division.

On the appointed day the Duke of Wellington moved the second reading of the bill, by stating that he trusted the house would believe that the course which he had now adopted on this question had not been adopted without the fullest conviction that it was a sound and a just one. His grace then went on to show the state of Ireland as it had existed for many years, describing it as bordering upon civil war, and attended by all the evils of civil war, adducing this state of things in justification of the measure. He conceived it his duty, he said, to correct the evil by other means than force. "I am one of those," said his grace, "who have been engaged in war beyond most men, and, unfortunately, principally in civil war; and I must say this, that, at any sacrifice whatever, I would avoid every approach to civil war. I would do all I could, even sacrifice my life, to prevent such a catastrophe.

"Nothing could be so disastrous to the country; nothing so destructive to it prosperity as civil war; nothing could take place that tended so completely to demoralize and degrade as such a conflict, in which the hand of neighbour is raised against neighbour; that of the father against the son, and of the son against the father; of the brother against the brother; of the servant against his master: a conflict which must end in confusion and destruction. If civil war be so bad when occasioned by resistance to government; if such a collision is to be avoided by all means possible, how much more necessary is it to avoid a civil war, in which, in order to put down one portion, it would be necessary to arm and excite the other? I am quite sure that there is no man that now hears me who would not shudder were such a proposition made to him; yet such must have been the result had we attempted to terminate the state of things to which I have referred otherwise than by a measure of conciliation. In this view, then, merely, I think we are justified in the measure we have proposed to parliament." On the other hand, his grace asked, what benefit could arise to any one class in the state from pertinaciously persisting in an opposition which had already produced bad consequences, and threatened worse? One of the chief obstacles to the measure, he continued, was the safety of the Protestant church. Now that part of the united church of England and Ireland which was placed in the latter kingdom, was in the peculiar situation of being the church of the minority of the people; and if violence against it were apprehended, he would ask whether that church was more likely to be defended against violence by an unanimous government, and a parliament united with government and with itself, or by a divided government, and a parliament of which the parts were opposed to each other? No man could look with patience and attention at the present state of this question without being convinced that the real interests of all classes in this country, and particularly the church itself, required the consideration and settlement now proposed. This settlement would give security to the church, strength to every department of the government, and general tranquillity to the country at large. In conclusion, his grace said, "On the whole I entertain no doubt that, after this measure shall have passed, the Roman Catholics will cease to exist as a separate interest in the state as they at present do. I have no doubt that they will cease to excite disunion in this or the other house of parliament. Parliament will then, I hope, be disposed to look at their conduct, and everything as respects that country, as they would look upon the people and the affairs of England and Scotland. I will say, however, that, if I am disappointed in my hopes of tranquillity after a trial has been given to the measure, I shall have no scruple in coming down to parliament and laying before it the state of the case, and calling for the necessary powers to enable the government to take the steps suited to the occasion. I shall do this in the same confidence that parliament will support me, that I feel in the present case."

In reply, the Archbishop of Canterbury moved an amendment, that the bill should be read a second time that day six months. He was surprised, he said, that any man remembering the conduct of the Catholics at all times, and who knew, as every one must know, that even what was now proposed fell short of their ultimate objects, should attempt to justify a measure, on the ground that it would bring peace to Ireland. When he considered the use which had been made of the concession of the elective franchise, to produce consequences which, it was said, had rendered the present measure necessary; he could see no return of gratitude in the conduct of the Roman Catholics. When, too, he considered the liberality of the public, which had established a college for educating the Roman Catholic youth; when he looked at the liberality of parliament granting supplies for its support; when he saw those very men who had been bred up at the public expense becoming members of an Association which had existed in contempt of the government, and in defiance of the laws, lending themselves to the exaction of a tax levied on the people, and converting their places of worship into meetings for factious purposes; when he looked at all these circumstances, he saw little hope that the measure proposed would produce either tranquillity in Ireland, or safety to the church. To him it appeared irreconcilable with the Protestant essence of the constitution. It mattered not what circumstances produced the laws about to be repealed; they had been adopted, and re-established at the Revolution, as a necessary security for the constitution. By the coronation-oath, as then arranged, the king swore to maintain the true profession of the gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion established by law. How, he asked, was the king to do this? By attending churches in person? No! The king could only act by responsible advisers; and, therefore, when such a clause was inserted in the oath, it was presumed that the king would always have proper servants about him, who would enable him to discharge the obligations imposed upon him by the oath. Suppose the king to be surrounded by ministers who were all Roman Catholics; if so, it was clear he could do nothing towards fulfilling those obligations, for whatever measures he might contemplate for that purpose, there would be no one to carry them into effect. No adviser or minister of the crown, who could not enter into the views of the king for the maintenance of the true profession of the gospel and of the Protestant reformed religion, could assist the king to fulfil those obligations which were imposed upon him by the coronation-oath. His grace then went on to show the vital importance of having ministers in every department of the state well affected towards the Protestant religion. For instance, the secretary of the colonies, he said, had absolute power in respect to the church; church patronage was at his disposal, and the clergy were under his control. In dissensions, also, among the clergy, and for the protection of their interests, he was the person appealed to; and if there was not a strong Protestant spirit in the secretary, it would be in his power to discourage to the most alarming degree, and even almost to extinguish, the church of England in many of the colonies. Under all these circumstances, therefore, his grace concluded by moving, as an amendment, that the bill should be read a second time that day six months.

The debate in the lords continued four successive nights by adjournment. The spiritual lords who spoke, in addition to the mover of the amendment, were the Archbishops of York and Armagh, the Bishops of London, Salisbury, Durham, and Oxford. All of these opposed the bill, except the last, who contended that concession was called for, not merely by the situation of Ireland, but by the turn which talent and education had taken in this kingdom with reference to the question. Those peers, said his lordship, who opposed concession, were men advanced in years; but the individuals who were rising in the natural progress of things to fill the high offices of the state, were, with with scarcely an exception, in favour of this measure. But independently of the fact that the talent, intelligence, and education of the country were marshalled in favour of concession, there were abundant reasons why he should vote for the measure. He would vote for it because it came recommended by his majesty's speech from the throne; seconded by the declaration of the heir presumptive to the crown; supported by all the members of the royal family, except the Duke of Cumberland; carried through the other house by an overwhelming majority; supported by many members of the house of lords; supported, too, for many years by that great and eloquent statesman whom Providence had recently snatched away from the service of his country; and specially brought forward by those ministers who had hitherto been champions of the Protestant interest. These were extraordinary circumstances which had never been combined before; and he thought that a bill introduced in these circumstances would in a few years produce a different state of things in Ireland. As to the safety of the church of England he had no doubt, since the people of England possessed the most hostile feelings towards all the doctrines of Popery. The Irish church was certainly, he said, placed in an anomalous situation, and he had no wish to depreciate the dangers to which she was exposed; but instead of being increased by the measure before the house, they would be diminished by it. On the other hand, the Archbishop of Armagh argued, that the Irish church had everything to fear from Catholic emancipation. If the house, indeed, could subdue the intolerant spirit of the church of Rome, disarm the priests of their influence over the people, and withdraw the people from their allegiance to the see of Rome, making them citizens of their own country, and letting them take their stand among other dissenters, all might be well. But would any man, he asked, say that they could make the church of Rome tolerant, or persuade the priesthood of that church to hold an inferior rank to a clergy, the validity of whose orders they denied, and whose church they reviled as adulterous? Could any one suppose that the Roman Catholic priests would quit their hold upon the consciences, wills, and the passions of men, when their spiritual despotism was the most powerful engine for their own aggrandisement? The Roman Catholic priesthood must ever stand alone. It had set the indelible mark of separation on its own forehead, by its unnatural, though politic, restrictions, by its claim to exclusive pre-eminence, and by its dangerous and unconstitutional connexion with a foreign state. Ascendancy, he contended, would be placed within the reach of the Roman Catholics by this bill; and could any one believe that they would not attempt to seize upon that ascendancy when it was well known that the promotion of the interests of their church was with them a point of principle and of honour, which they considered as far superior to the claims of country or kindred. The confederacy of the priesthood, actuated by a hatred of whatever was Protestant, would leave no means untried to exalt their church at the expense of the Protestant establishment, and especially when they found that those who ought to support that establishment were divided into parties. Such must be their objects and their wishes; and the bill would furnish them with both. The bishops of London and Durham expressed the same sentiments regarding the inevitable danger to the Protestant establishments, which must necessarily spring from what was neither less nor more than a deliberate arming of the Catholics with the power required to effect objects which the Catholics themselves bad the caution carefully to conceal or disguise. They also denounced the folly of legislating upon the principle that men would lay down their mischievous designs whenever they obtained the means of putting them in execution. The enemies of Protestantism knew better; and it was remarkable, the Bishop of Durham observed, how strange a combination of persons hailed the dawn of the new policy. It had united in its favour the acclamations of Catholics and of all classes of liberals, down to the lowest grade of Socinians. When men, he added, whose opinions led them to keep down the ascendancy of any church, and others whose conscience bound them to labour against the ascendancy of the Protestant church, so acted, he could not help thinking that the consequences of the measure would be anything but friendly to that ascendancy.

Of the temporal peers the defence of the bill was principally undertaken by the lord-chancellor, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount God erich, the Earl of Westmoreland, Earl Grey, and Lord Plunkett. The lord-chancellor had a difficult task to perform. He was among those who up to this period had earnestly refuted all the pleas of concession which were now brought forward, and he had now to confute all these refutations. As late as last year he had declared his conviction, that emancipation, though accompanied by weighty securities, was pregnant with danger to the constitution and establishment; and he now declared his equally conscientious conviction, that emancipation, without any securities at all, would be conducive to the safety and prosperity of that constitution and establishment. This change of opinion might be fair and honest; but, unfortunately, Lord Lyndhurst denied the change which had taken place in his mind on this subject. He said that he had always held that if concession could be granted consistently with the security of the Protestant established church, and the great interests of the empire, it was the duty of parliament to give it. This was a bold assertion, and one which the public generally was not disposed to believe, since they knew that he had opposed concession with all the force of his learning and eloquence. The world might be wrong in saying that Lord Lyndhurst adopted his new creed by compulsion; but it was undoubtedly right in saying that it was a new creed. Having, however, defended his consistency in the best manner he could, or as he thought most proper, Lord Lyndhurst passed on to the merits of the measure. Ireland, he contended, had for years been growing worse and worse; and it was necessary, to effect a better state of things, that recourse should be had to conciliation. As to the dangers to be apprehended from concession, Lord Lyndhurst said he was now convinced that they were merely imaginary. And even if there were some danger, it seemed to him that the danger to be dreaded from the discontent of five millions of subjects, if their prayer were rejected, was infinitely the greatest and the worst. But he, for one, entertained no apprehensions that if the professors of the Roman Catholic religion should be introduced into parliament, they would exercise their influence to overthrow or injure the Protestant established church; and he entertained no apprehensions whatever, that in the discussion of those questions which concerned the church, her interests would be sacrificed. Looking at this measure both on a political and a religious principle, he was sure that it would put an end to the contentions and animosities which had prevailed, particularly in Ireland, and that it would operate to the advantage of the Protestant church and the Protestant religion. The Marquis of Anglesea, who had recently been recalled from his government of Ireland because he held out hopes of Catholic emancipation, also entered the ministerial phalanx which combated for that measure. He insisted principally on the military points of view in which the question ought to be considered. Every man, he said, acquainted with the state of Ireland would agree with him, that in a time of profound peace, under the exclusive laws, 25,000 men was but a scanty garrison for Ireland. In the event of war, or even of the rumour of war, that would be an improvident government which did not immediately add a force of 15,000 men to the previous military force. It could not be a question that both France and America wished to do us injury; and in the case of any collision with either of these powers, the first object of both would be to throw arms to a great extent into the hands of the discontented Irish. "I am arguing," he continued, "be it observed, upon the supposition that the exclusive laws are in existence: for if they were not, the arms would not be received, or, if received, would be turned against the donors. But suppose that we are absolutely at war, and that there is a combination of the powers of Europe (no very unlikely contingency) against us: I then say that it would be madness in any administration, not to throw 70,000 men into Ireland. I should be sorry, with all the power of steam to convey troops from the continent, and all the advantages which modern science has recently introduced into the art of war, to see Ireland with so scanty a garrison in time of war, under the exclusive laws. But, on the other hand, suppose this bill to be passed into law by this day month; declare war if you like the next day; and I assert that you will have no difficulty, within six weeks, to raise in that country 50,000 able-bodied, and what is better, willing-hearted, men, who will traverse the continent, or find their way to any quarter of the globe to which you may choose to direct their arms. The passing of this bill is worth to the British empire more, far more, and I do not wish to exaggerate, than 100,000 bayonets."

The measure was strongly opposed by Lord Tenterden, the chief-justice of England, the Duke of Richmond, and the Earls of Winchilsea, Harewood, Mansfield, Falmouth, and Ermiskillen. Lord Tenter-den declared against it, because he knew it to be a violation of the constitution, and because he believed that it threatened ruin to the Protestant church, which he valued, not only for the purity of its doctrines, but because, of all churches that ever existed, it was most favourable to civil liberty. The other noble lords said that the Protestants had derived consolation from the declaration of the Duke of Wellington, at the opening of the session, that the measure would be found to be one which would satisfy the Protestants, give security to their institutions, and check the growth of Popery. The measure, however, was the reverse of what had been promised, and justified the worst apprehensions of those who loved the constitution. Instead of being calculated to satisfy the Protestants, the Protestant opinion of the country had already been unequivocally expressed against it. The expression of that opinion, had become louder and more general since the details of the measure had become known; and the rallying sound throughout the country now was, "Protestant ascendancy." The Protestants of Great Britain were called on to bend before Irish rebels and seditious demagogues, and that too on mere conjectural grounds of imagined expediency. It was said, "You are to examine two dangers, and that the danger of disturbance was greater than any that could flow from concession." When the latter clanger, however, was the sacrifice of the Protestant constitution, the parliament which incurred it was inexcusable, whether their conduct proceeded from dread of foreign attack, or of domestic dissension. It was easy to understand how men who did not believe that Protestantism formed an integral part of the constitution should pay for tranquillity what must appear to them so low a price. His majesty's ministers, however, had always been of a different opinion. They had maintained and avowed that a measure like this was pregnant with danger to the constitution; and though their views of the expediency or inexpediency of incurring that danger might have changed, the danger itself must be the same. Nothing that had happened or was likely to happen could be put in the balance against this violation of the constitution. Was the British Protestant constitution a thing for which it was not worth while to encounter danger? would we defend it with our lives against invaders abroad, and yet sacrifice it to demagogues at home? The horrors of civil war were threatened: be it so; was the constitution to be sacrificed, whenever a number of unprincipled men threatened rebellion, if it was maintained? But that apprehension was groundless. The noble mover of this very measure had himself admitted that resistance was nowhere offered; that the Catholics were too wary and cautious to offer it; and that his troops found no occupation because they met with no enemy. Wise and good men would endeavour to tranquillize Ireland; but they would not give up, even for this object, the Protestant constitution of Ireland. The Marquis of Salisbury who had moved the address at the opening of the session, said that he had done so because he was prepared to change the condition of the Catholics; but he had never imagined that securities would not be provided, which securities he thought were to be found only in connecting the Catholic priesthood with the state. By abandoning securities their lordships would be signing the death-warrant of the Protestant establishment of Ireland and if the Protestant establishment of Ireland fell, that of England would shortly follow; and with the downfall of the church a revolution would ensue. Lord Eldon, in obedience to a general call made on him by the house, spoke at great length, and with evident sincerity on this important question. He commenced by stating that ministers who had introduced the bill, were actuated by a sense of their duty, though he lamented their conduct. At the same time he could not acquit the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel of wilfully deceiving the people, and bringing them into a state of apathy, by leading them into a persuasion that no measure of the kind would be brought forward at least this session. On Lord Lyndhurst, however, the ex-chancellor was more severe; that noble lord having endeavoured to excuse his own frailty by fixing a similar charge of inconsistency on Lord Eldon. As regards the measure itself, Lord Eldon said that he must say, once for all, that he did not mean to rest any part of his opposition to it on the terms of the coronation-oath; neither would he contend that to alter any of the laws enacted at the Revolution was beyond the competence of parliament. This, however, (looking at the 13th, 25th, and 30th of Charles II., that the exclusion from parliament produced by the last of those statutes,) was in conformity with the true construction of the acts of 1688, and with the act of union between England and Scotland in the reign of Queen Anne. These he contended were meant to be the ruling and governing principles of the constitution, until a strong necessity for altering it should be made apparent. His lordship then went on to show the futility of the securities demanded, and of the measure itself, as it regarded the tranquillization of Ireland. The securities tendered, he said, were of two kinds: first, those which belonged to the change as it might operate upon the minds of the Roman Catholics; secondly, those which were connected with the bill itself, and the other measure by which it was attended. First, they had passed a law to put down the Catholic Association; but although that was due to the dignity of Parliament, as a security against the dangers which he apprehended, neither that measure nor the precautionary clauses of the one then before the house were, in his mind, anything else than a mere nullity. But it was said, that only six or seven Roman Catholics could be admitted into that house, and only some thirty or forty into the commons. I ask, said his lordship, whether there is no other mode of obtaining seats in that house but by the suffrage of freeholders? The bill itself is one to which I feel the strongest objection. It provides in no shape for that advice which may be given by the ministers of the crown, who may all but one, be Roman Catholics. If there should be but one or two Protestant ministers I cannot see how they can maintain their opinions; and perhaps on the maintenance of their opinion might depend the maintenance of the Protestant constitution. In conclusion, Lord Eldon said, that he should have preferred that a proposition had been made by the noble duke for going into a committee to examine the reasons for originating such a bill, because it would have been but right that, in a matter of so much importance, your lordships should have known something more of the grounds of that expediency upon which you are called to legislate. Lord Plunkett said that he had reserved himself for the purpose of hearing the unanswerable arguments against the bill which Lord Eldon had threatened to produce when the measure came fairly before the house. As that noble and learned lord, however, had brought forth nothing but the ipse dixit of his own authority, unsustained either by ingenious argument, by historical deduction, or by appeal to public and authenticated documents, he felt himself so far absolved from the necessity of refuting anticipated arguments, that he would apply his observations more particularly to the position, that the bill was calculated to subvert the Protestant constitution. In the course of his remarks on this vital point of the question, his lordship observed, that he had been asked whether this was a Protestant kingdom? and whether this was not a Protestant government, and a Protestant parliament? In one sense he admitted it was a Protestant kingdom, but it did not exclude papists. He admitted, also, that the parliament was essentially and predominantly Protestant; and in that sense, but in no other, the parliament was Protestant. He concluded by saying that the present bill did not give the Roman Catholics any benefit without an oath; an oath too which combined in its language every possible security that such a form could afford. Earl Grey spoke at great length, repeating the argument that an exclusion of Catholics had not originally formed any part of the Protestant government, since they had been found in parliament from the reign of Elizabeth down to that of Charles II.; that the exclusion was adopted to guard against political dangers of a temporary nature, which had long disappeared; that it formed no essential part of the Revolution settlement, or of the bill of rights; and that the coronation oath was never intended to restrain the king from consenting to such alterations as parliament in its wisdom might enact. Earl Grey also entered at great length into that important part of the question, which related to its bearing on the act of union with Scotland. On every ground, he continued, the right to make the change was clear; and, in his opinion, the justice and prudence of making it were equally obvious. The great object of alarm seemed to be the political power which the bill would confer, and which, it was said, was the object at which the Catholics had all along been aiming. The bill would certainly bestow political power; but, he argued, it was power of the most legitimate kind, and that to which they were justly entitled. As to the effect of the bill on the state of Ireland, he would not say that it would at once give tranquillity, and remove all dangers; but he felt sure that without it it was impossible to have tranquillity and freedom from danger in that country. By the system of exclusion, lie said, they had produced more than one rebellion in Ireland, which had been extinguished in blood; but had they, he asked, induced tranquillity? By no means. On the contrary, Ireland had been growing worse and worse every year, requiring a larger military force to keep the people obedient to the laws, and that in a time of peace. Was this the mode of making that country a useful portion of the empire? Was it the way in which we should be preparing for war? But, it was urged, if you pass this bill, the church of Ireland is destroyed, and Catholic ascendancy virtually proclaimed. That church, unfortunately, was placed in a situation which could not be freed from dangers of one sort or another. The great obstacle to its triumph had always been, that it had never been the church of more than a small minority of the people of Ireland; and that it was the church of so very small a minority, he verily believed, was owing to those very laws which they now sought to repeal. Take them away, and the number of its disciples would increase, not from the spirit of conversion..... for any open attempt in that way would be impolitic—but from its superior reason, and from its more wholesome tenets, which would come more fairly into play as soon as it should be relieved from the invidious situation in which it at present stood. Take away the false protection, of exclusive laws, and superior excellence would prevail in the conflict of argument. The debate was closed by the Duke of Wellington, who treated the apprehended danger to the Irish church as futile, considering that the throne would be filled by a Protestant, and that the fundamental article of the union between the two countries was the union of the two churches. Adverting to the charge of inconsistency brought against himself and his colleagues, his grace remarked:—"A different topic to which I wish to advert, is a charge brought against several of my colleagues, and also against myself, by the noble earl on the cross-bench, of a want of consistency in our conduct. My lords, I admit that many of my colleagues, as well as myself, did on former occasions vote against a measure of a similar description to this; and, my lords, I must say that my colleagues and myself felt, when we adopted this measure, that we should be sacrificing ourselves and our popularity to that which we feel to be our duty to our sovereign and our country. We knew very well that if we put ourselves at the head of the Protestant cry of 'No Popery,' we should be much more popular even than those who have excited against us that very cry. But we felt that in so doing we should have left on the interests of the country a burden, which must end in bearing them down; and further, that we should have deserved the hate and execration of our countrymen. Then I am accused, and by a noble and learned friend of mine, of having acted with great secrecy respecting this measure. Now I beg to tell him that he has done that to me, in the course of the discussion., which he complains of others having done to him; in other words, he has, in the language of a right honourable friend of his and mine, thrown a large paving-stone instead of throwing a small pebble. I say, that if he accuses me of acting with secrecy on this question, he does not deal with me altogether fairly. He knows as well as I do how the cabinet was constructed on this question; and I ask him, had I any right to say a single word to any man whatsoever upon this measure, until the person most interested in the kingdom upon it had given his consent to my speaking out? Before he accused me of secrecy, and of improper secrecy, too, he ought to have known the precise day upon which I received the permission of the highest personage in the country, and had leave to open my mouth upon this measure. There is another point also on which a noble earl accused me of misconduct; and that is, that I did not at once dissolve the parliament. Now I must say that I think noble lords are mistaken in the notion of the benefits which they think that they would derive from a dissolution of parliament at this crisis. I believe that many of them are not aware of the consequences of a dissolution of parliament at any time. But when I know, as I did know, and as I do know, the state of the elective franchise in Ireland, when I recollected the number of men it took to watch one election which took place in Ireland in the course of last summer; when I knew the consequences which a dissolution would produce on the return to the house of commons, to say nothing of the risks which must have been incurred at each election—of collisions that might have led to something short of civil war—I say that, knowing all these things, I should have been wanting in duty to my sovereign and to my country if I had advised his majesty to dissolve his parliament." On a division the same house of peers which in 1828 had declared, by a majority of forty-five, that emancipation would be a breach of the constitution, and dangerous to the Protestant establishment, now declared, by a majority of two hundred and seventeen against one hundred and twelve, it was consistent with the constitution; and that, if it did no good, it would not do any harm to the Protestant church.

On the 7th and 8th of April the bill passed through a committee, in which, as in the commons, many amendments were moved, but none carried. It was read a third time on the 10th of April, after another debate, in which the former arguments were repeated on both sides of the question; and on the 13th of the same month it received its final confirmation in the royal assent. The working of that measure will be best seen in the future pages of this history; but it may be here observed, that it has proved neither an immediate, nor a sufficient cure for the disorders of Ireland. Protestant ascendancy was too deeply and extensively rooted in all its institutions to admit of such a remedy; nor was it likely that the Roman Catholics, having acquired means to break their chain, would remain long without trying their efficiency. Agitation had procured this boon; and the Roman Catholics, thus successful, have sought to obtain other benefits by the same unhallowed means. Agitation is, in fact, still the bane of Ireland.

BILL FOR THE DISFRANCHISEMENT OF THE FORTY-SHILLING FREEHOLDERS.

GEORGE IV. 1829—1830

Emancipation having thus been gained, Mr. Peel brought in a bill for the disfranchisement of the Irish forty-shilling freeholders, and for raising the qualification to ten pounds. This was part and parcel of the general measure, and it met with no serious opposition even in Ireland. The very Whigs supported it, hostile as it was to popular rights and destructive of vested political franchises, as an essential part of a whole; the other and better part of which they were unwilling to lose. Mr. Brougham said, he consented to it as the price, the almost extravagant price, of the inestimable good which would result from emancipation; and it was described by Sir James Mackintosh as one of those tough morsels which he had scarcely been able to swallow. It was opposed by Mr. Huskisson and others as a measure uncalled for by any necessity, and not fitted to gain that object which alone was held out as justifying it. It was absurd, it was said, to allege as a pretext for it, the influence and conduct of the Catholic priesthood; for all who knew anything of that influence, knew that it was chiefly felt when it ran with the current of popular feeling; and that it was even exercised with a view to maintain submission to the laws. If the forty-shilling freeholders had been corrupt, like those of Penryn, their disfranchisement might be defended; but the only offence of the persons against whom this bill was directed, had been that they exercised their privilege honestly and independently, according to the dictates of their own consciences. In reply to this, Mr. Peel mentioned an instance of the power of the priests as having occurred at the Clare election. At the commencement of that election a landlord of the county had promised his interest to Mr. V. Fitzgerald. The landlord had a voter on his estate who was under great personal obligations to him; and previous to the commencement of the contest, he said to this voter, "I shall vote for Mr. Fitzgerald; I suppose you mean to do the same." The man declared his determination to imitate the example of his patron; but as the struggle drew nearer, a degree of excitement was produced to which it was only necessary to allude: and the freeholder did not escape its effects. He came to his landlord with sixty pounds in his hands, and addressed him thus:—"I have saved this sum while your tenant, and upon your property. I cannot redeem the promise which I gave you. There, take the sixty pounds, make use of it to promote the interests of Mr. Fitzgerald; but my vote I must give to Mr. O'Connell." "Could anything," he asked, "be so painful as the situation of him who was obliged to perform such a part, to observe such a doubtful contest between his religion and his conscience?" On a division only seventeen members voted against the bill; and it passed into a law. Mr. O'Connell had publicly bound himself to reject even emancipation if accompanied by such a condition, and to perish in the field, or on the scaffold, if necessary, in defence of his "forties;" but he forgot his vows, and became silent and acquiescent.

THE CASE OF MR. O'CONNELL.

At the time of the Clare election Mr. O'Connell had assured the people that he was entitled to sit in parliament without taking the oaths, which no Catholic could take. He had staked his professional reputation on this point, and had given assurances that he held other learned opinions to the same purport. His return had subsequently been petitioned against; but a committee to whom the petition had been referred, had reported that he was duly elected. Now, according to the old law, under which Mr. O'Connell's claim had arisen—he having been elected before the measure of emancipation had passed—if a person known and believed to be a Catholic could take certain oaths, which oaths involved an abjuration of Popery, he was entitled to take his seat. The new act, however, did not seem to forward his pretensions. The oath, indeed, which it substituted for those that were abrogated, could be taken by a Catholic as well as a Protestant; but that provision was expressly limited to "any person professing the Roman Catholic religion, after the commencement of this act, be returned as a member of the house of commons." Mr. O'Connell and his friends, however, held that from the moment the bill received the royal assent, there was an end to the power of administering the abrogated oaths, or demanding any of the declarations which then stood repealed. On these grounds Mr. O'Connell hoped to take his seat in parliament. He presented himself at the table of the house on the 15th of May; and the clerk produced the oath which had been repealed by the late act. A brief conversation took place; and the clerk having communicated what took place to the speaker, he addressed the house thus: "It is my duty to state, if I have been correctly informed, that the course which the honourable member has proposed to take, is a course which, until overruled by stronger authority, I do not conceive it my duty to acquiesce in. I understand that he proposes to take the oath prescribed to be taken by Roman Catholics as it is to be found in an act of parliament recently passed. As I read that act of parliament, it is my impression, and on my impression it is my duty to act, that it involves two points relative to the course to be pursued in taking seats in this house. The first point is that of repealing the declaration against transubstantiation; the other, that of appointing an oath to be taken by such members of this house as profess the Roman Catholic creed; but with this condition, that those members should be returned subsequently to the passing of the act. Now the honourable member was returned, as the house is well aware, long before the passing of this act. I have, therefore, only to refer to the law affecting all the members of this house until the late act passed; and, with the single exception of repeating the declaration against transubstantiation, I have to state that the construction which has been uniformly put on the law of the land, and which has been repeatedly sanctioned and confirmed by act of parliament, is, that every member, before taking his seat, shall take the oath of allegiance and supremacy before the lord-steward, and the oath of abjuration at the table of this house. This is the course which, by law, the dignity and the privileges of this house require. I state this the rather because it is well known that this house is open to an appeal by petition, or it may be brought forward by any member in this house. In that case, the house will be better able to judge, and to state its opinion of the propriety of the conduct which it appeared to me to be my duty to pursue. I, therefore, state to the honourable gentleman that he must withdraw." Mr. O'Connell having withdrawn, Mr. Brougham moved, that he should be called back, and heard at the table in support of his claim to be admitted on taking no other oath than that contained in the late act. Mr. W. Wynn was of opinion that Mr. O'Connell was entitled to be heard at the bar of the house, and that it made no difference whether he was heard there or at the table, though it was his opinion it might be better to adhere to the former course. Mr. Peel, however, thought there was a great distinction between hearing the applicant at the table and at the bar; and that he had no right to be heard at the former. The debate on this point was adjourned to the 18th of April; on which day it was finally ordered, on Mr. Peel's motion, "that the member for Clare be heard at the bar, with reference to his claim to sit and vote in the house of commons without taking the oath of supremacy." On his appearance at the bar, Mr. O'Connell maintained that the Act of Union with Ireland entitled him to sit without taking the oath of supremacy; and that the act lately passed entitled him to sit without taking the declaration against transubstantiation. He claimed, under the spirit and effect of the new statute, to sit without taking the oath of supremacy; and he claimed also, under its positive enactments, to sit without taking any other oath than what was therein contained. There were many points in his arguments very strongly put, and they were delivered with a temperance calculated to conciliate the good will of the house. Even the lawyers, also, who were opposed to Mr. O'Connell, confessed that there were doubts as to the true meaning of the oath of supremacy; but the house, notwithstanding, came to the resolution, that unless Mr. O'Connell took that oath, he was not entitled to sit or vote in that house. A motion to that effect, moved by the solicitor-general, was carried by a majority of one hundred and ninety against one hundred and sixteen. Mr. O'Connell was then called again to the bar, and the speaker having put the question to him whether he would take the oath or not, he replied:—"I see, in this oath, one assertion as to a matter of fact which I know is not true, and see in it another assertion, as to a matter of opinion which I believe is not true; I therefore refuse to take this oath." A new writ was now ordered for a new election, and Mr. O'Connell went back to Ireland to be re-elected by his constituents. The decision had an untoward effect upon his mind; for he now loaded ministers with the most opprobrious epithets, as men who having been false to their own party could never be true to any other. It caused him, indeed, to announce his ulterior design to effect a repeal of the union by that system of agitation which had already proved so successful. This purpose he has deliberately followed up by the most inflammatory harangues, and various other modes of popular excitement. From that day to this year, indeed, his whole career has been one long course of agitation to effect the repeal of the union; but whether he or any other agitator in Ireland will ever be gratified by such an event demands a doubt.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

The chancellor of the exchequer opened the budget on the 8th of May. From his statements it appeared that the revenue of the preceding year so far exceeded his estimate as to leave a surplus of nearly £6,000,000 for the sinking-fund. For the present year, however, as the house was anxious to abolish the absurd system of defraying the expense of military and naval pensions, or the "dead weight" as it was called, by postponing its burdens, he estimated the gross revenue at £51,347,000 and the expenditure at £48,333,593, by which means he left only a clear sinking-fund of £3,000,000 for diminishing the public debt. The finance committee had recommended that this sum should always be kept inviolate for the purpose of reducing the national debt; and as the surplus on which they could calculate was no greater, no part of it could be applied to the reduction of the burthens of the country.

MOTION FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

The last parliamentary result of the measures passed in regard to Ireland was a motion for parliamentary reform. On the 2nd of June, the Marquis of Blandford, one of the ultra-tories, moved a series of resolutions, which went to declare that there existed a number of boroughs the representation of which could be purchased, and others in which the number of electors was so small as to render them liable to the influence of bribery; and that such a system was disgraceful to the character of the house of commons, destructive of the confidence which the people should repose in it, and prejudicial to the best interests of the country. The Marquis of Blandford supported his motion on the ground that late events had shown how completely the representative body could be separated from the feelings, the wishes, and the opinions of the people. An imperious necessity had also been added to the already existing propriety of putting down the borough-monger and his trade: all the rights and liberties of the country were in jeopardy, so long as majorities were to be obtained by a traffic of seats and services. "After what had happened," said his lordship, "the country demanded some statutory provision to secure its agriculture, its manufactures, and its trade; but more especially to secure Protestant interests against the influx and increase of the Roman Catholic party, one mode of securing this, and at the same time of purifying the representation, would be to abolish the borough market, which had now been thrown open to Catholics." This motion, which was intended to be rather in the nature of a notice, than made with any design of having the topics which it embraced fully discussed, was supported by some of the old reformers, though on different grounds from that dislike of free trade, and apprehension of Catholic influence which animated the mover. Mr. W. Smith, in voting for the resolutions, expressed his high satisfaction that the relief bill had produced an effect unanticipated—the transforming a number of the highest tories in the land, into something very like radical reformers. The resolutions, however, were rejected by a majority of four hundred and one against one hundred and eighteen.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT, ETC.

Parliament was prorogued by commission on the 24th of June. The speech regretted that war still continued in the east of Europe; announced that his majesty had been enabled to renew his diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Porte; and adverted to the unfortunate condition of the Portuguese monarchy. In allusion to the Catholic relief bill, the speech remarked: "His majesty has commanded us in conclusion to express the sincere hope of his majesty that the important measures, which have been adopted by parliament in the course of the present session may tend, under the blessing of Divine Providence, to establish the tranquillity and improve the condition of Ireland; and that by strengthening the bonds of union between the several parts of this great empire, they may consolidate and augment its power and promote the happiness of his people." About this time the legal arrangements rendered necessary by the dismissal of Sir Charles Wetherell were completed: Sir James Scarlett, who had filled the same office under Mr. Canning, became the attorney-general of the Duke of Wellington; Sir Nicholas Tindal was made chief-justice of the common pleas, Chief-Justice Best being removed into the house of peers, under the title of Lord Wynford; and Mr. Sugden succeeded the former as solicitor-general.

STATE OF AFFAIRS IN IRELAND.

The Catholic relief bill was impotent to stem the tide of agitation in Ireland. That country, indeed, in the very year that it passed, presented the same scenes of violence and outrage as before. While the registation rendered necessary by the act which disfranchised the forty-shilling freeholders was going on, Mr. O'Connell was taking measures to secure his re-election for the county of Clare. In a letter to the electors he again raised the standard of defiance to government. It represented himself and his constituents, in fact, as the conquerors of the government; and spoke of it as faithless and insulting. In it he remarked: "The house of commons have deprived me of the right conferred on me by the people of Clare. They have, in my opinion, unjustly and illegally deprived me of that right; but from their decision there is no appeal, save to the people. I appeal to you. In my person the county of Clare has been insulted. The brand of degradation has been raised to mark me, because the people of Clare fairly selected me. Will the people of Clare endure this insult, now that they can firmly but constitutionally efface it for ever? Electors of the county of Clare, to you is due the glory of converting Peel and conquering Wellington! The last election for Clare is admitted to have been the immediate irresistible cause of producing the Catholic relief bill. You have achieved the religious liberty of Ireland. Another such victory in Clare, and we shall attain the political freedom of our beloved country." The victory which had been achieved, he said, was still necessary to be maintained in order to "prevent Catholic rights and liberties from being sapped and undermined by the insidious policy of those men who, false to their own party, can never be true to us, and who have yielded, not to reason, but to necessity, in granting us freedom of conscience." Even the Catholic relief bill itself did not escape the censure of Mr. O'Connell. The prohibition contained in it against the growth of the monastic orders especially was denounced by him. He remarked:—"I trust I shall be the instrument of erasing from the statute-book that paltry imitation of the worst and still existing portion of Jacobinism, a miserable imitation, which pretends to do that which nature and religion forbid to be done—to extinguish monastic orders in Ireland. While it is law, its penalties will be submitted to; but let me add as a matter of fact, that its mandate will most assuredly not be obeyed. It was formerly death in Ireland to be a friar; and the Irish earth is still scarcely dry from the blow of martyred friars: the friars multiplied in the face of death. Oh for the sagacity of Peel, and the awful wisdom of Wellington, that meditate to suppress monastic orders in Ireland by a pecuniary penalty, and the dread of a foreign mission, under the name of banishment!" In this letter Mr. O'Connell made some magnificent promises to the electors of Clare and the people of Ireland at large. He would obtain the repeal of the disfranchisement act, of the sub-letting act, and of the vestry bill; would assail the system of "grand jury jobbing, and grand jury assessment;" would procure an equitable distribution of church property between the poor on the one hand, and the laborious portion of the Protestant clergy on the other; would cleanse the Augean stables of the law, for which Herculean task his professional habits gave him peculiar facilities; would procure for every Catholic rector of a parish, a parochial house, and an adequate glebe; would make manifest the monstrous injustice that had been done to the Jesuits and the monastic orders; would wage war against the East India charter; would strain every nerve in the cause of parliamentary reform; and would provide a system of poor laws for Ireland that would be agreeable even to those who had to pay their money for the support of the poor. He added:—"If the gentry of Clare are desirous to have as their representative a man who is able and most desirous to protect in parliament their properties and permanent interests, let them do me the honour to elect me. But let them not lay the flattering unction to their souls, that they can, without an independent man of business as their representative, postpone the introduction of the English system of poor laws." As soon as Mr. O'Connell took the field an "aggregate meeting" of Catholics, which was nothing else than a meeting of the Catholic Association took place, to consider what steps should be adopted to forward his re-election. The first thing done was to vote £5000 of the rent as an aid to assist the agitator in standing for the county of Clare, The election did not excite much interest, as Mr. O'Connell was not opposed; but it was preceded and accompanied by "triumphant entries" as they were called; that is, assemblages of large crowds of people, to whom were addressed harangues in which inflammatory abuse was mixed up with low buffoonery. On the subject of the repeal of the union with England, he said at Youghall:—"We have now a brighter era opened to us; and I trust that all classes of my countrymen will join together, and, by forming one general firm phalanx, achieve what is still wanting to make Ireland what it ought to be. Ireland had her 1782, she shall have another 1782. Let no man tell me it is useless to look for a repeal of the odious union, that blot upon our national character. I revere the union between England and Scotland; but the union which converted Ireland into a province, which deprived Ireland of her parliament, it is for the repeal of that measure we must now use all the constitutional means in our power: that union which engenders absenteeism, and the thousand other evils which naturally flow in its train. We are bound to England by the golden link of the crown; and far be it from me to weaken that connexion by my present observations: I want no disseveration; but I want and must have a repeal of that cursed measure which deprived Ireland of her senate, and thereby made her a dependent upon British aristocracy and British interests. I may perhaps be told that to attempt a repeal of the union would be chimerical. I pity the man who requires an argument in support of the position that Ireland wants her parliament; and that individual who pronounces the attainment of such a consummation to be Utopian, is reminded of the Catholic question. Look at the Catholic cause. Do I not remember when it was difficult to procure a meeting of five Catholics to look for a restoration of our then withheld rights? I recollect when we agitators were almost as much execrated by our fellow-slaves, as we were by our oppressors. For the attainment of the repeal of the union, I shall have the co-operation of all classes and grades in society: the Orangemen of the north, the Methodist of the south, and the quiet unpresuming Quaker, who may think his gains shall be thereby augmented, all shall be joined in one common cause, the restoration of Ireland's parliament." But this was a mild attack upon England compared with other portions of the agitator's speeches. It is no wonder then that Ireland soon presented scenes of as much violence as those from which the emancipation bill was to relieve her for ever. The hostile feelings of parties continued, and manifested themselves in the same way as heretofore. Catholics and Protestants alike had recourse to organization, and the slightest accident, the most casual collisions produced contention, and generally ended in bloodshed. Thus on the 12th of July, which the Protestants had resolved to celebrate, the Catholics determined to oppose their intention by force wherever they could, and in the counties of Clare, Tipperary, Armagh, Leitrim, Cavan, Fermanagh, and Monaghan, the aspect of open war was assumed, and it was only prevented by the presence of the military. Many lives were, indeed, sacrificed, and many thousands were driven from their homes by the opposing parties. In several instances where death had occurred from the interference of the police, or from their resistance when attacked, trials ensued; but this only tended to exasperate the Catholics still more. An acquittal, though proceeding on the clearest evidence that life had been justly taken from an armed aggressor, was uniformly ascribed to partiality. Imagining that the law existed only to be used against them they took the task of retribution for supposed injuries into their own hands, and assumed arms to gratify revenge, in defiance of the law Judges, juries, and the government were laughed at by Catholic criminals, for no witness dared to communicate what he knew against them. At the close of this year, indeed, matters had proceeded to such a length in Ireland, and especially in Tipperary, that the magistrates expressed an opinion that nothing but a revival of the insurrection act would secure the peace of the country. But this could not be effected, for it had expired, and parliament was not sitting. So Ireland was left to be rent asunder with the spirit of faction. "State gipsies" were left to pick the pockets of the ignorant as they pleased, or as they could gain control over those of the people, by their artful and seditious harangues.

AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL DISTRESS.

GEORGE IV. 1829—1830

England, also, this year presented its scenes of lawlessness. This arose from different causes to those which gave rise to the insurrection in Ireland. These causes were the distress which prevailed among the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial classes. The depression in every branch of trade experienced this year naturally gave rise to a reduction of wages among the artisans. These artisans, however, unreasonably ascribed this reduction, not to the necessities of trade, but to the avarice of their employers; and they still more unreasonably proceeded to their usual correctives—voluntary idleness, and the destruction of property. The example was set by the silk-weavers of Spitalfields and Bethnal-Green, who refused to work except at an increased rate of wages, and made their way by night into the shops of workmen possessed of materials belonging to the refractory masters, and destroyed them. Overawed by the combination, the masters agreed finally to pay the same wages that had been paid in 1824, although its continuation would prove ruinous to them. Similar scenes were exhibited, and the same results followed at Macclesfield, Nuneaton, and Bedworth. Nor did the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire escape the contagion. About the end of May the weavers of Barnsley, like the silk-weavers of Bethnal-Green and Macclesfield, forced upon their employers a list of prices. By August and September, however, the masters found it impossible to keep to these prices; and when they proposed a reduction, the workmen immediately left their work, and commenced a riot. Warehouses were attacked, as were also the houses of such weavers as had taken out work at reduced prices; and it was only by calling in the aid of the military that tranquillity was restored. Yet lawless and mischievous as these proceedings were, it was clear that they originated from the misery of those engaged in them. A report, drawn up at Huddersfield by a committee of masters, stated, "that within the several townships engaged in fancy business, there were 13,000 individuals who had not more than twopence halfpenny per day to live on; and out of this they had to find wear and tear for looms." This report added, "Whatever be the cause of such distress, it is feared that the agonizing condition of families so circumstanced cannot long be endured. The difficulty of obtaining relief by the ordinary course, and the aggravating circumstances often attending applications for it, have a powerful tendency to drive the applicants ultimately to desperation. In laying these painful statements before the members of his majesty's government and other influential gentlemen, the master manufacturers wish to do it respectfully, impelled by a sense of duty which they owe to the government and the public, and especially to their workmen, who have hitherto borne their sufferings with extreme patience." The distress was aggravated by a bad harvest and a severe winter, all of which contributed to bring the productive classes of the community, and especially the lowest orders, into a state of abject misery.

FOREIGN POLITICS.

The foreign affairs requiring notice, as affecting Great Britain, were principally those in the East. During this year Turkey was obliged to sue to the Russian autocrat for peace; for both the Russian army and navy were successful in all their operations. The terms granted were as follows:—The Pruth was to constitute the European limit as before; but Silistria was to be dismantled. An alteration was to be made in the Asiatic boundaries, so that the whole eastern coast of the Black Sea, from the Kuban to the harbour of St. Nicholas, together with the fortresses of Anapa and Poti, should remain in possession of Russia. The principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were to be confirmed in their rights; but the Hospodars were to be nominated only for life, and no Turks allowed to dwell there. Free trade was to be allowed on the Black Sea, and navigation through the straits for vessels belonging to Russia, as well as all other countries at peace with the Porte. The sultan was to defray the expenses of the war, and to accede to the treaties concluded at London regarding the Greeks. The bases of the intended negociations respecting Greece were finally arranged among the allies, at a conference on the 22nd of March in the present year. The protocol signed by them read as follows:—"1. The continental boundary line of the Greek state is to be drawn from the gulf of Volo to the gulf of Arsa. All countries south of this line to be included in the Greek state, to which the adjacent islands, comprehending Euboea and the Cyclades, are likewise to belong 2. An annual tribute of 1,500,000 Turkish piastres to be paid by this Greek state. Only a third part to be paid during the first year, and to be gradually increased till it reaches the maximum in the fourth. 3. Turkish subjects who may be forced to depart from the Greek territory to be indemnified. 4. Greece is to remain under the suzerainty of the Porte, which form of government is to approach as nearly as possible to & monarchical form, and to be hereditary in the family of a Christian prince, to be chosen for the first time by the three powers, in concert with the Porte. He is not to be a member of the families reigning in the states which are parties to the treaty of July 6th." Finally, the three powers, however, agreed to restrict the territory of the new state within narrower limits than were assumed in this protocol. The line adopted was further to the south. It commenced on the east at Zeitouni, a little to the northward of Thermopylae, and ran across the country in the direction of Vrachori, till it reached the river Aspropotamos, or the ancient Achelous, whose course it was then to follow as far as the sea. It thus excluded not only Thessaly, but Acarnaniaand the town of Vonizza, which the Greeks had taken early in the year, and an extensive tract of level country lying round the gulf of Calarno. The whole western frontier of northern Greece was left open by it to the attacks of its barbarian foes. And this determination was made without the wishes of the Greeks being consulted, or any communication made to the Greek government. The matter was, in truth, decided at London without the intervention of either Turkish or Greek minister; but the Porte and the Greek government were alike compelled to agree to the articles drawn up by the three powers.

In the Netherlands the session of the States-general, during the present year, was less tranquil and satisfactory than any that had been held since the Restoration. The king himself continued popular; but his government produced general dissatisfaction by some obnoxious measures; especially by dismissing judges who were supposed to be too obstinate; by partiality in official appointments; and by exercising severity against the press when it criticised the policy of administration. When the States-general met, the second chamber was immediately occupied in discussing an immense number of petitions, recommending improvements in the present system of government. Some ameliorations were made; but government resisted the proposal that cases of alleged abuse of the liberty of the press should be tried by a jury, and also the introduction of grand juries, and the extension of jury trials to the provincial courts and other criminal tribunals. On the other hand, a numerous body in the chamber censured every measure of the government, and resisted every project of its ministers; and the session ended with an increase of that excitement and dissatisfaction which for some time had been growing up in the public mind.

During this year, also, the government of France was embarrassed with difficulties. A new ministry had been formed under the presidency of Prince Polignac, all the members of which belonged to that section which advocated irresponsible power in politics, and essential domination in religion. Nothing could exceed the unpopularity of these appointments. The press teemed with denouncements both of the men and their measures; and prosecutions for its bold sentiments became the order of the day. Prosecutions increased, from the fact that associations were formed to resist the payment of taxes, in case ministers should attempt to rule without a chamber. Finally, the cabinet itself became divided. One great cause of its unpopularity was, that it contained Labourdonnaye, who had signalized himself by recommending a terrific system of proscription, and had, after the manner of Marius and Sylla at Rome, classified those descriptions of people on whom he demanded vengeance. Labourdonnaye retired towards the close of the year; but public opinion continued against the administration as strong and unanimous as ever. At one time, the organs of the cabinet threatened a dissolution of the chambers, and at another, the ultra-journals preached the doctrine of ruling without the chambers. The more accredited organs of the cabinet, indeed, did not openly repeat such sentiments, but they were connected in the minds of the people with that set of opinions which the cabinet represented. If the one party, indeed, were led astray by assuming evil designs not in existence, ministers were equally blind as to the character of their antagonists. The year finally closed in mutual recriminations; ministers keeping their places until the convocation of the legislature should determine, whether the chambers were to decide the fate of the cabinet, or the cabinet that of the chambers. One fact, however, was favourable to the interests of France: namely, that its foreign relations remained peaceful and unaltered.

In Portugal, Don Miguel this year unfolded to the world his true character. Early in this year an unsuccessful attempt was made in Oporto at insurrection in favour of Donna Maria, and the usurper made use of this occurrence to multiply arrests in the capital. Every individual whom any creature of government disliked, or any private enemy thought proper to denounce by an anonymous accusation, was forthwith consigned to the dungeons of the Limveiro, or of St. Julian. The actual conspirators at Oporto were tried by commission, and several of them were exiled, and the rest acquitted as persons against whom nothing was proved. Miguel, however, was shocked at the lenity of the sentence, and refused to ratify it; ordering at the same time a new sentence to be framed, by which five prisoners condemned to perpetual exile were directed to be hanged, and two who were to have been transported for ten years, to transportation for life. In comparison with death, the condition of the prisoners, with whom the jails and fortresses were crowded to suffocation, was scarcely to be envied. Though all were uncondemned, and most of them innocent, the whole were delivered over to the merciless authority of apostolic miscreants, who seemed to find no gratification but in the invention of new modes of inflicting misery.

Among the incarcerated were many persons in affluent circumstances, who charitably contributed to support the poorer prisoners, whom their tyrants were willing should perish by starvation. To deprive them of all assistance, indeed, government ordered their benefactors to be removed from the dungeons in the city, to those of St. Julian, Belem, and Bugio. Here, without being brought to trial, the prisoners were cut off from all communication, even with the members of their own families. Many of them died of want and confinement, and the usurper was suspected of poisoning others. No rank, sex, or character was respected; a child of five years of age was kept in solitary confinement five days, and subjected to the tortures of a prison to extort evidence against its father and mother. A refugee Spanish bishop, who had been a member of the Cortes of 1812, and had since lived in security at Lisbon, was thrown into a dungeon, and died in four days, in consequence of maltreatment, and his body was thrown into a hole in the esplanade of the castle without burial. The most sanguinary scenes took place both at Oporto and Lisbon. The rage of the tyrant was backed by the priests, who in their sermons and publications applauded the work of death and devastation as an acceptable offering to the Divine Majesty. One Jose Agostino, a monk and court preacher, published a pamphlet called "The Beast Flayed," urging the necessity of multiplying sacrifices, and recommending that the constitutionalists should be hanged up by the feet, and the people joyfully treated with fresh meat from the gallows. These sentiments only added fuel to the flames of Don Miguel's vengeance, and the kingdom was laid at the mercy of a set of men to whose vengeance, brutality, and avarice there were no bounds. One step downward in the path of moral turpitude ever leads to another. From the moment of his return, Don Miguel had hated his sister Bonna Maria, because she had been her brother's regent, and had been faithful to the constitution. Miguel learned that a footman formerly in the service of his sister had set out for England, and he fancied that he had been sent by Donna Maria with her money and jewels, in order to secure them from his rapacity. It is probable, also, that he imagined the servant had been sent to England for the purpose of making known the dreadful state of the country; and enraged thereby, he rushed into her chamber with a pistol in his hand, and demanded an account of the flight of her servant. Donna Maria stood for a while trembling in silence, but as Miguel was about to strike her with the pistol which was armed with a bayonet, she threw herself upon him, and overturned him. Her chamberlain now flew to her rescue. Miguel sprang up, and when on the point of again attacking her, Count Camarido threw himself before him. The tyrant disabled him by stabbing him in the arm, and fired at the princess; and though the ball missed her, it killed a servant by her side. Other domestics now interfered, and the life of Donna Maria was saved. She was hurried away from his brutal fury. While scenes of outrage and wrong were being committed daily throughout the whole of Portugal, the necessities of the government increased, notwithstanding a forced issue of paper money was made. Recourse was had to an expedition to reduce Terceira, one of the Azores, the only spot in the dominions of Portugal which remained true to its rightful monarch. This expedition set sail about the middle of June, and the troops succeeded in effecting a landing; but they were totally defeated by the islanders, under Villa Flor, who had made his escape with the Marquis Palmella and nineteen other general officers from the rage of Miguel. In the meantime the tyrant's interest was supported at Madrid by the great influence of his mother over the family of Ferdinand, who, in fact, regarded Miguel with peculiar complacency, because he had destroyed a constitutional government. The other sovereigns of Europe however, still kept aloof from any communication with the usurper. It was contended by the Portuguese refugees, and the ministers of Don Pedro, that they ought to drive Miguel from his throne by positive interference. These applications were especially made to the British ministry; but though Lord Aberdeen admitted to their fullest extent the obligations created by the treaties existing between Britain and Portugal, he maintained that they gave no countenance to any demand made for interference in an internal revolution. He remarked: "It is assumed that the usurpation of the throne of Portugal by the infant Don Miguel has given to her most faithful majesty the right of demanding from this country effectual succours for the recovery of her crown and kingdom. But in the whole series of treaties there is no express stipulation which can warrant this pretension, neither is such an obligation implied by their general tenor and spirit. It is either for the purpose of resisting successful rebellion, or of deciding by force a doubtful question of succession that Great Britain is now called upon to act. But it is impossible to imagine that any independent state could ever intend thus to commit the control and direction of its internal affairs to the hands of another power. For, doubtless, if his Britannic majesty be under the necessity of furnishing effectual succours in the event of any internal revolt or dissension in Portugal, it would become a duty, and, indeed, it would be essential to take care that no such case should exist if it could be prevented. Hence a constant and minute interference in the affairs of Portugal would be indispensable; for his majesty could never consent to hold his fleets and armies at the disposal of a king of Portugal, without exercising those due precautions and that superintendence which would assure him that his forces would not be employed in averting the effects of misgovernment, folly, or caprice. Is this a condition in which any state professing to be independent could endure to exist? The truth is, that the whole spirit of the treaties, as well as their history, shows that the principle of the guarantee given by England is the protection of Portugal from foreign interference." The British government, therefore, refused to interfere in this domestic quarrel; and it also considered itself bound to observe a strict neutrality in regard to all military operations. A considerable number of Portuguese exiles, resident on our southern coast, appeared to have some design of fitting out an expedition against Don Miguel; and the British government, holding such views as above unfolded, informed the Brazilian minister that it would not allow such designs to be carried on in British harbours, and that the refugees must remove further from the coast. The Brazilian minister replied, that these troops were about to be conveyed to Brazil; and accordingly four vessels, having on board six hundred and fifty-two officers, with Count Saldanha at their head, sailed from Plymouth. The British government, however, suspected that the true design was to land those troops at Terceira; and notice was given to them before they sailed that any such attempt would be resisted. A small force, under the command of Captain Walpole, was despatched to enforce the prohibition; his instructions being to cruise off the island; to inform the Portuguese that he had authority to prevent their landing; and if they made any effort to effect a landing, to resist such an attempt by force, and to drive them away from that neighbourhood. The suspicions of the government were in this instance justified. The expedition of Count Saldanha appeared off Terceira on the 16th of January; and was discovered by Captain Walpole standing right in for Port Praya. Two shots were fired for the purpose of bringing them to; but without effect. The vessels then lay-to; and to a note from Captain Walpole, inquiring what was their object in coming thither, Saldanha answered, that his object in appearing there was to fulfil the orders of her majesty the Queen of Portugal, which directed him to conduct, unarmed, without any hostile appearance, to the isle of Terceira, the men that were on board the four vessels in sight, which island has never ceased to acknowledge Donna Maria II. as its legitimate sovereign. He added:—"As a faithful subject and soldier, I think it unnecessary to assure you that I am determined to fulfil my duty at all peril." Captain Walpole replied, that he had instructions to obey, and an imperious duty to perform; that both of them prevented him from allowing the count, or any part of his force, to land either at Terceira, or on any part of the western islands of the Azores, or even to continue in that neighbourhood. To this communication Saldanha replied, that he considered himself and his men, in such circumstances, Captain Walpole's prisoners; that they would follow his vessels where-ever he chose to take them; but must have a written order to that effect, and be supplied with water and provisions; if he had not this written order, he said, he would pursue his course, and endeavour at all risks to fulfil his instructions. Captain Walpole's reply still was, "Go where you choose, but don't stay here; if you persist in hovering about these islands, it is my duty and firm determination to carry those measures you are already in possession of into full effect." After this angry correspondence the Portuguese finally sailed away; and the British commander having watched them until they arrived within five hundred miles of Sicily, returned to his station at Terceira. Count Saldanha and his squadron instead of returning to England, proceeded to Brest. This occurrence excited much notice in Europe, and it was brought under discussion in the British parliament. It was represented by the opposition as a direct act of hostility in favour of the usurper, against the acknowledged Queen of Portugal, then residing in England; and as an armed interference in favour of Miguel at the very moment when it was pretended that the duties of neutrality did not admit of interference. It was asked, if not bound by treaties to assist the queen in recovering her crown, whence arose our right to prevent her, by means of her own subjects, from making the attempt? Why, when recognizing her right, refusing to admit the title of Miguel, and pretending to maintain a strict neutrality, had we interfered by force against a lawful sovereign? And what could excuse the barbarous injustice of telling the lawful monarch that, in so far as we were concerned, she must work out her own restoration by her own strength; and then, when she puts forth her strength; telling her that we would not allow it to be employed? To all this it was replied that the armament attacked had been fitted out in a British port, an answer which decided the merits of the question; for whether the observance of neutrality between two competitors for the crown of Portugal was right or wrong, appeared in this case a matter of indifference; as it had been decided on, no other course could justly have been taken: and if Miguel's armament had been fitted out in a British port, it would have met with a similar interruption. If ministers were to be attacked, indeed, the only vulnerable point was the maintenance of a strict neutrality towards a tyrant who had voluntarily sworn to our government that he would obey the laws and preserve the constitution of their country. In the meantime negociations had been going on between Don Pedro and the ministers of England and Austria to effect some arrangement of affairs; and a deputation had been sent by the Portuguese constitutionalists to point out how these affairs stood, and to urge the necessity of adopting active measures. Don Pedro, however, refused to accept propositions from foreign negociation which involved any sacrifice of his daughter's claims, while he assured the Portuguese that he would maintain the rights of their queen without entering into any compromise with the usurper of her throne. But Pedro did not strengthen the hopes of his friends at this time by the resolution which he admitted of recalling his daughter from England to Brazil; and the British government itself remonstrated with him on the impolicy of that step. Donna Maria's return to Rio de Janeiro seemed to convey the idea, indeed, that she had abandoned all pretensions to the crown of Portugal, and had left Don Miguel undisputed master of the field. But such was not in reality the case. Don Pedro had ulterior objects in view by the recall of his daughter; and the Brazilian minister made a public declaration, to the effect that Donna Maria's departure from Europe neither involved an abdication of the crown on the part of her majesty, nor an indifference on the part of Don Pedro to his daughter's rights.

The history of Spain furnishes but few events of importance during the present year. In the early part of it, Ferdinand lost his queen, and towards the close he contracted a third marriage with a princess of Naples. The marriage was celebrated at Madrid, to the great dissatisfaction of the adherents of Ferdinand's brother, Don Carlos. During the year, conspiracies transpired in Catalonia. They were supposed to have been excited by the Count d'Espagne for the sake of private advantage, and they were followed by cruel executions. The rest of the country remained tranquil; but its finances were in so dreadful a state of exhaustion from a long continuance of misgovernment and exclusion, that Cadiz was declared a free port, in the hope of restoring foreign commerce to its ancient condition. At this time, however, the Spanish government, which had been driven from the English money-market by its faithless conduct respecting the Cortes' bonds, ran the risk of losing its credit with all the European states, by a discovery of its fraud in a French loan.

CHAPTER XL.

GEORGE IV. 1830—1831


     State of Parties..... Meeting of Parliament..... Motion for
     a Committee of the whole House on the State of the
     Nation..... Reduction of the Salaries of Public Officers,
     &c...... Motion for revising the whole System of
     Taxation..... Committee on the East  India Company's
     Charter..... Debate on the Proposal to alter the
     Currency..... Financial Statements..... Bill for Repealing
     the  Duty on Beer, &c...... The Question of Reform..... The
     Case of East Retford, &c...... Mr. O'Connel's Bill for
     Reform by Universal Suffrage and Vote by  Ballot, &c......
     Bill for Removing the civil Disabilities affecting the
     Jews..... Bill for Capital Punishment in Cases of
     Forgery..... Bill for Amending the Law of Libel, &c......
     Alterations in   Courts of Justice..... Illness of the
     King..... Bill to authorize the adhibiting of the Sign
     Manual by a Stamp..... Death of the King, and Accession of
     the Duke of Clarence, William IV...........

STATE OF PARTIES.

A.D. 1830

At the commencement of this year, government found itself in a new and unsafe position. It had carried the great party question of Catholic emancipation, but in so doing it had lost the confidence of a large body of its most faithful adherents. Ministers had, it is true, on the other hand, gained the seeming support of their old enemies of the opposition; but this could not be depended upon. The Whigs were willing to lend them such assistance as would prevent the necessity of seeking a reconciliation with the offended Tories; but they were not willing to concede even this, except as the means of gradually introducing themselves into an equal share of power. They assented to a coalition in parliament; but the price of this assent was coalition in office. In a word, their policy was to aid the government with their countenance and their votes, so far as it would be sufficient to keep it alive, but by no means to give it the robustness and vigour of perfect health. On the other hand, the Duke of Wellington was willing to use them as supporters; but he was not disposed to extend to them an equal share of power. It was his wish, indeed, to be reconciled to his old friends; and, therefore, he stood aloof from a more intimate connexion with the Whigs, that he might keep open the door of reconciliation to the former. He flattered himself, that as each of the two divisions of his adversaries would be unwilling to drive him for the preservation of the ministry into the arms of the other, he might command the occasional assistance of both, to an extent sufficient to enable him to govern without placing himself in the power of either. But this was chimerical. The Tories showed no inclination to trust men whom they considered as their betrayers, and they resisted them as statesmen who had abused their power, and coalesced with their political antagonists, to force upon the country a measure contrary to its opinions, interests, and institutions. They resisted them, also, as politicians who, to effect their purpose had abandoned their tenets, betrayed and surprised their own confiding adherents, and introduced as a principle into the conduct of government, that everything was to be granted which was demanded by clamorous agitation. Between the Tories and the Whigs, the distance was not greater than between the Tories and the ministry; and perhaps it was not even so great, as the Whigs had not betrayed their opponents. The Duke of Wellington, indeed, seems to have had some fear that the two parties might coalesce, in order to effect his expulsion from power. Nor was this fear without foundation. Neither party was in heart his friends; and his own conduct had at once furnished the motives to such an union, and removed one irreconcileable point of difference between the parties whose union he feared. Moreover, in itself the ministry was without the means of making any commanding figure in the house of commons. With the exception of Mr. Peel, who filled the post of leader in that house, there was no man who could fight their battles of debate with any degree of talent and vigour, no one that held any high place in public opinion, either for oratory or information. Finally, the ministry increased their unpopularity by prosecutions for libel arising out of the Catholic relief bill. While that bill was pending, the press had given birth to much vehement and angry discussion, and some of the papers having gone beyond the bounds of allowable invective, the attorney-general resolved to crush them by ex-officio informations. But these prosecutions were received with an universal dislike by all parties in the country; and the temper in which the Whig attorney-general conducted them, gave a severe blow to his public character, and increased the unpopularity of the government.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was opened by commission on the 4th of February. The royal speech expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of war between Russia and the Ottoman Porte, and alluded to the embarrassing affairs of Portugal. Concerning the prevailing distress, it remarked:—"His majesty laments that, notwithstanding an indication of active commerce, distress should prevail among the agricultural and manufacturing classes in some parts of the United Kingdom. It would be most gratifying to the paternal feelings of his majesty to be enabled to propose for your consideration measures calculated to remove the difficulties of any portion of his subjects, and at the same time com patible with the general and permanent interests of his people. It is from a deep solicitude for those interests that his majesty is impressed with the necessity of acting with extreme caution in reference to this important subject. His majesty feels assured that you will concur with him in assigning due weight to the effect of unfavourable seasons, and to the operation of other causes which are beyond the reach of legislative control or remedy." This qualified admission of the existence of national distress gave great offence in both houses of parliament. In the lords, Earl Stanhope moved as an amendment to the address, "That this house views, with the deepest sorrow and anxiety the severe distress which now afflicts the country, and will immediately proceed to examine into its cause, and into the means of effectually providing the necessary relief." His lordship said that a more inappropriate and unsatisfactory speech had never been addressed to any public assembly. The speech said that distress existed "in some parts" of the country: he asked, in what part it did not exist? The kingdom, he asserted, was in a state of universal distress, embracing alike agriculture, manufactures, trade, and commerce. These great interests had never before at one time been at so low an ebb, nor in a condition which demanded more imperatively the prompt and energetic interference of parliament. The speech ascribed the distress existing, so far as it had admitted it, to unfavourable seasons. This of course operated upon grain; but was the effect of unfavourable seasons usually visible in a reduction of price? Did a bad harvest make corn cheap? The evil was so notorious that nobody but his majesty's ministers doubted its existence, and they could not deny it, if they only cast their eyes around, and saw the counties pouring on them every kind of solicitation for relief. Why then was inquiry evaded or denied? It was not true that the causes of distress were placed beyond the reach of parliament, it was parliament that had produced them, and yet ministers now wished parliament to disregard the effects, and treat the public distress with indifference. The amendment moved by Earl Stanhope was supported by the Duke of Richmond, and the Earls of Carnarvon and Winchilsea. The Earl of Carnarvon declared that the address called upon them to pledge themselves to statements inconsistent with truth, and declared that he would never lend his countenance to the fallacious representations of mere partial distress, as set forth in the speech. That speech, he said, did not contain one word of the true causes of the country's suffering; but gravely desired them to take "the state of the seasons" into their consideration. He contended that no small part of the distress was owing to the change in the currency. There had been periods of distress in former times, but they had soon passed away. Now, however, the kingdom was placed in very different circumstances, as the circulation of specie was no longer commensurate with the demand. He suggested that a silver standard should be adopted, by which he conceived that the resources of the country would be emancipated from the artificial fetters in which they were now bound, and prove sufficient to feed the now starving population. The Earl of Winchilsea said, that, if the house refused to take the distress into consideration, an opinion would be forced on the country, that it was unable to legislate for the public good. A spirit was springing up, he said, in different parts of the country, for forming associations, not to lay the grievances of the people before parliament, but to propose remedies of their own, and to redress their own wrongs. To that spirit, he contended, their lordships would be supplying encouragement if they refused to institute an inquiry into the nature and causes of the existing distress. The amendment was opposed by Lord Goderich, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the Duke of Wellington. Lord Goderich said that the true object of its noble mover was to get rid of the alterations lately introduced into our commercial system, and to unsettle the basis on which the currency now stood. For his own part he had never been able to learn, from the opponents of what was called "Free Trade," what that was which they denounced under that name. The noble mover seemed to menace by it the refusal to foster domestic agriculture by prohibiting the importation of foreign wool. That refusal was no modern invention. It was not till 1819 that the importation of foreign wool had been prohibited; and the duty then laid was imposed merely for the purposes of revenue, and not as a protection to trade. The Duke of Wellington said that much more had been made out of the expressions in the speech, concerning the bad seasons, than was meant. It was not set down as the only cause of distress, but was alluded to as one circumstance not to be lost sight of: there had been one bad harvest, and another had been attended, in getting it in, with unusual expense; these were facts to be taken into consideration. Another cause of distress, he said, "was to be found in the state of our manufactures: this it was to which his majesty alluded, when he spoke of me operation of causes beyond the reach of legislative control. Were not, he asked, competition at home and abroad, the introduction of machinery, and the general adoption of steam, calculated to produce distress among our manufacturers? Yet could parliament prevent competition? Could it prohibit the use of machinery, and the application of steam, all of which, by throwing labourers out of employment, produced distress? But," his grace continued, "I am satisfied that the distress is not universal; that there are parts of the country free from it. The exports of last year had been greater than they had ever been before; and there was not a canal or railway in the country which did not present an increase of traffic. It was true, no doubt, that all this had been done at small profits; but profits there must have been, otherwise the traffic would not exist. Pressure upon the country there certainly was; but not so great as to prevent it from rising, though slowly. The country was not stationary; much less was it falling; it was improving." His grace in continuance said, that he could not agree with the supporters of the amendment, that what distress existed was to be ascribed to the restricted circulating medium to a metallic currency. There was no foundation in fact for such an opinion: the circulation was greater now than before the restriction, and therefore the distress could not be properly attributed to a deficient circulation. The Marquis of Lansdowne opposed the amendment because its true object was to bring the house to the adoption of one of the greatest evils which this country had ever endured, an unlimited issue of a paper circulation. If the first were taken, it would lead to subsequent steps, against which it was his duty to guard the house and the public. Distress, he added, unquestionably existed to a lamentable extent; but he concurred in the recommendation that it should receive the most cautious attention. On a division the amendment was lost by a majority of seventy-one against nine.

In the commons the battle on this subject was much more fierce than in the lords. An amendment to the address was moved by Sir Edward Knatchbull, founded, as in the lords, on the alleged misrepresentation contained in the speech regarding the distresses of the country, and the consequent determination of ministers to adopt no measures either of inquiry or relief. Sir Edward Knatchbull contended that the distress was universal; and if he were called upon for other proof than that of his own testimony, he would say, "Let every member who now hears me state honestly and fairly, and without reserve, what is the situation of the place with which he as a representative is immediately connected." The house was asked on this first day of the session to approach his majesty with a declaration something like a downright falsehood. He did not mean, however, to advert at present to any remedy for the distress. All he asked was this, to state in their address to his majesty the naked truth as to the distress of the country. He therefore moved to strike out of the address the clause affirming existence of partial distress, and to insert the following:—"We lament the existence of that distress which your majesty informs us is confined to some places; but in the painful discharge of our duty we are constrained to declare to your majesty that that distress is not confined to some places, as your majesty has been advised, but is general among all the productive interests of the country, which are severely suffering from its pressure. We beg to assure your majesty that we shall adopt the caution which your majesty recommends in the consideration of the measures to be adopted in reference to these interests, and that our earnest endeavours shall be employed to alleviate and remove the distress now so unfortunately existing." The amendment was supported by Messrs. Western, Protheroe, Davenport, Maberly, Duncombe, and R. Palmer, who all joined in condemning the extenuating phraseology used by government, as either being the result of gross ignorance regarding the true state of the country, or betokening a reprehensible determination to propose no measure of relief, and to institute no inquiry. The house, it was said, had long been in the habit of hearing complaints from individual classes in the country; but these complaints were no longer reiterated from the old quarters. The productive and industrious classes of the community were in a state of great misery; their distress was settling-down into universal discontent, and the voice of their disaffection would soon be heard, he said, with alarm. It was urged, also, that the pressure was severe on the classes immediately above the industrial portion of the community; and that those who dealt in manufactured goods were in no better situation than the agriculturists. It was stated in proof of this, that among the great body of the traders in the city of London, their stocks had suffered a depreciation of forty per cent. Sufferings so general, it was argued, affecting every interest of importance throughout the country, could not be the result of local causes. The amendment, it was said, corrected a most erroneous representation of a matter of fact, and it pledged parliament to nothing more than a cautious inquiry into the origin of the state of things which in fact existed. On the other hand the chancellor of the exchequer maintained, that no amendment had ever been moved so little at variance with the speech to which it was intended to apply; and that, although there was distress among both agriculturists and manufacturers in some parts of the kingdom, other parts were in a comparatively flourishing and prosperous state. Mr. Goulburn contended that there was great agricultural prosperity enjoyed in Ireland. This called up Mr. O'Connell, who denied that such was the case. He had, he said, travelled through the provinces of Leinster, Connaught, and Munster, where he not only had not seen proofs of prosperity, but had observed much distress. Mr. Huskisson supported the amendment, thereby giving the signal for his friends to divide against the ministry. It was of the greatest importance, he said, in the present season of universal disquietude and dissatisfaction, not to provoke a hostile discussion between the representatives of the people and the people themselves, and not to call down reproach on the house of commons by understating the distress and difficulty of the time. He believed that the country, in so far as the productive classes were concerned, was suffering greatly; and that if parliament looked at the subject properly, and acted with the caution which one part of the speech recommended, they would find themselves fully competent to cope with the existing difficulties. To some of the causes which had led to the distress parliament could apply no remedy; but it was in their power to satisfy the country as to what those causes were, and to afford a partial relief by giving a better direction to the capital of the country. Mr. Peel expressed surprise that Mr. Huskisson should support an amendment like the present, considering his long-expressed opinions. Session after session Mr. Huskisson had resisted commissions of inquiry, lest he should excite false expectations; and he now supported an amendment founded on principles and intended to lead to conclusions from which he totally dissented, because he thought it stated a matter of fact somewhat more correctly than did the speech itself. Mr. Peel then contended that the speech did not misstate facts; but proved the non-existence of universal distress by the increase of the internal and foreign trade of the country. Several members expressed their intention to vote for the address, although they believed the distress to be more general than the speech represented. As for the Whigs, they were divided between their wish not to leave the ministry, which showed a leaning towards them, exposed to defeat, and the fear of endangering their popularity by appearing to be indifferent to public suffering. Lord Althorp, for instance, was sorry to give a vote which might give him the appearance of joining the opponents of government; but found it to be his duty to vote for the amendment, because he believed the distress to be universal. Mr. Brougham, also said his vote for the amendment was wrung from him, because he thought it more correctly represented the state of things; but if he could bring himself to think that the effect of the amendment would be to displace the present government, he would vote for the address. Mr. Spring Rice expressed himself to the same effect. But these declarations of the leading members of opposition did not prevent their adherents from carrying their votes to the ministry; and the amendment was negatived by a majority of one hundred and fifty-eight against one hundred and five.

On the following day, when the report on the address was brought up, the Marquis of Blandford moved that the following extraordinary amendment, which he termed, "a wholesale admonition to the throne," should be appended to the address:—"That this house feels itself called upon, in the awful and alarming state of universal distress into which the landed, commercial, and all the great productive interests of the country are at this moment plunged, to take care that your majesty shall not be the only person in your dominions ignorant of such an astounding fact, as well as of the consequent impending danger to the throne and other great national institutions, established by the wisdom of our ancestors for the protection and benefit of the people over whom your majesty has been called to preside,"—"That this house is at no loss to indicate the real cause of this most unnatural state of things; and, in justice to your majesty and the whole nation, it can no longer hesitate to proclaim that cause to the world.

"It is a fact, already too notorious, that this house, which was intended by our ancient and admirable constitution to be the guardian of the nation's purse, has, from causes now unnecessary to be detailed, been nominated for the greater part by a few proprietors of close and decayed boroughs, and by a few other individuals who, by the mere power of money employed in means absolutely and positively forbidden by the laws, have obtained a 'domination,' also expressly forbidden by act of parliament, over certain other cities and boroughs in the United Kingdom.

"That, in consequence of this departure from the wisdom of our ancestors, the nation has been deprived of its natural guardian, and has in consequence become so burdened in the expensive establishments of all kinds, that, in a period much shorter than the life of man, the taxation, has risen from £9,000,000 to nearly £60,000,000 a year, and the poor-rates, or parochial assessments, during the same period, have augmented from £1,500,000 to £8,000,000 annually.

"That to render such a mass of taxation, so disproportionate to the whole wealth of the kingdom, in any degree supportable, recourse has been had, either from ignorance or design, to the most monstrous schemes in tampering with the currency, or circulating money of the country, at one time by greatly diminishing the value of the same, and at another time by greatly augmenting such value; and at each and every of such changes, which have been but too often repeated, one class of the community after another has been plunged into poverty, misery, and ruin; while the sufferers, without any fault or folly of their own, have been hardly able to perceive from what hand these calamities have come upon them.

"That under such circumstances, and with this knowledge before its eyes, this house would consider itself lost to every sense of duty towards your majesty, and guilty of treason towards the people, if it did not seize this opportunity of declaring to your majesty its solemn conviction that the state is at this moment in the most imminent danger, and that no effectual measures of salvation will, or can, be adopted until the people shall be restored to their rightful share in the legislation of the country; that is, to their undoubted right, according to the true meaning of the constitution, of choosing members of this house." This amendment, was seconded by Mr. O'Connell, and Messrs. Western, Protheroe. Messrs. Smith and Davenport, declared themselves favourable to its spirit, although they thought it was injudicious to bring forward a topic of such importance as a mere amendment on an address. Sir Francis Burdett took the same course; and in his speech on this occasion he gave the ministry fair warning that they must either enter into a closer connexion with the Whigs, or no longer count on their support. Sir Francis said, that when he found the prime minister of England insensible to sufferings and distress, painfully apparent throughout the land; when, instead of meeting the calamity with measures of relief, he sought to stifle every important inquiry; when he called that a partial and temporary evil which was both long-lived and universal, he could not look on such a mournful crisis, in which public misfortune was insulted by ministerial apathy, without hailing any prospect of change in the system that produced such a state of feeling. What, he asked, could be said of the ignorance which could attribute the distress to the introduction of machinery, and the application of steam, that noble improvement in the inventions of man, to which men of science and intelligence mainly ascribe our prosperity? He felt a high respect for the abilities of the Duke of Wellington in the field; but he thought that the noble duke did himself equal justice when he said, previous to his taking office, that he should be a fit inmate for a lunatic asylum if he were ever induced to take such a burden on his shoulders. In fact, both he and many honourable members about him had long treated the illustrious individual with such tenderness, because they felt that he had conferred the greatest benefit on his country. He was the only man in England who could have accomplished what he had done; and his praise should be in proportion. It should, however, be at the same time remembered, that if his service was great, his recompense had been commensurate: they had repaid him in returns of confidence and approbation; but the time was come when it would be necessary to do much more. On a division the Marquis of Blandford's motion was lost by a majority of ninety-six against eleven.

MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE ON THE STATE OF THE NATION.

In the debate on the address Lord Stanhope gave notice that he should on an early day bring the state of the country under their lordships' notice, by a special motion. He did so on the 25th of February, by moving that their lordships should resolve themselves into a committee of the whole house on the state of the nation. The proposition on which his lordship founded his motion was, that all the great productive interests of the country were suffering under the pressure of a distress the tendency of which was to go on increasing. Complaints and applications for relief by the agriculturists, he said, had come up from every county, and they had been disregarded, probably because they were couched in respectful language. He said this, because recent experience had shown that if they had formed illegal associations, collected funds, and spoken to government in the language of intimidation, they would have received attention. Of the reasonableness of their complaints no man could doubt who knew their situation. Rents were paid from the capital of the farmer; and numbers of tenants had already been driven from their farms in bankruptcy and beggary. The capital of others, also, was daily extorted from them to meet their current expenses; and when that capital was exhausted they, too, must go forth ruined men. It had been said, "Reduce your rents, and you will remove the mischief," But this expedient had been tried, and had failed: rents had been reduced fifty per cent.; but there were cases in which no rent could be paid. He knew of one parish, for instance, in Sussex, where all the proceeds of the land were not sufficient to maintain the poor; and neighbouring parishes had been applied to to give them relief. If the existing state of things was not speedily remedied, they must end in ruin and anarchy. Nor, he continued, was the state of the manufacturing population better than that of the agriculturists. Artisans were at work for threepence or fourpence per day; and of those who received employment, a great proportion worked for wages which, when compared with the value of the article on which they were employed, were altogether deceptive. Then, he asked, what was the state of the shipping interest? To realize profit was out of the question; and many of the ship-owners had preferred parting with their ships at a certain loss of forty per cent., to continuing to hold them at the risk of a loss still greater. All these interests were, therefore, at present in a state of apparently hopless distress. As for the symptoms to which ministers pointed as those of returning health, they were utterly fallacious. It had been said that the traffic on railways and canals had been increased; the same effect would be produced if the goods had been transported on speculation, and hawked about from one part of the country to another for sale, either in vain or at ruinous prices. With an increasing population consumption must increase to some extent, because the addition to the population would not absolutely famish; but the evil was, that it was consumption which still furnished to those employed in creating the articles consumed the means, not of living with any reasonable comfort, but of mere squalid starvation. Ministers had told them, likewise, to look at the number of new houses which were springing up, and had asked if this was an indication of distress. No one had ever said that every man in the country was distressed. Who had ever said, for instance, that the fund-holders and annuitants felt the general pressure? They might continue to flourish like rank and noxious weeds among surrounding ruins; they still drew their fixed incomes, but their security was diminishing; for that security depended on the productiveness of the revenue; and the revenue, as the natural result of the misery of all the productive classes of society, was fall ing off. Lord Goderich, in reply, said that he had expected the motion would have been supported by something better than the two undeniable propositions that there was great distress in the country, and that it was the duty of ministers to relieve it to the utmost of their power. He should have thought that the noble mover would have stated the causes which had produced the distress of the country, and have given some notion of the remedies which he deemed applicable to the disease. In regard to the one and the other, the house had been left in the dark. While, however, he resisted a mode of inquiry which promised nothing, he did not say that it was impossible for parliament to do anything. In relation to the currency and the state of our taxation, parliament might afford material relief to the country. He thought parliament might also do something by a reduction of taxation; for during the two years that he himself had been chancellor of the exchequer, nine millions of taxes had been removed, and yet that amount had not been eventually lost to the revenue: in some heads of receipt there had been a diminution, but in others there had been an increase. The Earl of Roseberry, also, spoke against the motion: he could not support it, because he thought that in its present form it was neither practicable nor expedient. The motion was supported by the Duke of Richmond and Lord Eldon. The former insisted principally on various facts proving the extent and pressure of the prevalent distress; and maintained that in common sense the causes of the misfortune should be investigated, before means for removing them were tendered. Lord Eldon, in supporting the motion, accused his ancient colleagues of coming down to parliament with a declaration that there were "other causes" for the distress of the country, which they did not deem it expedient to specify, and which they left to each one's sagacity to guess at as he might. He contended that the smallest consideration of the causes and remedies of the present all-pervading distress would have been received by the country with gratitude. He was the more confident of this, he said, when he bore in mind the pacific and loyal demeanour of the numerous thousands who were suffering under the most pinching distress, and who, he hoped, would be prevented from being drawn away from the line of good conduct by the expressed determination of parliament to inquire into the causes of their sufferings, with a view to remedy them so far as circumstances might permit. The Duke of Wellington still denied that the existence of distress was so extensive as had been represented, and supported his opinion by the augmented consumption of various articles, by the increase of buildings, by the state of the savings' banks, and by the advanced traffic on railways and canals. He still maintained, also, that the power of redress was beyond the reach of parliament; and he defied noble lords opposite to do anything on the subject which should be at once politic and satisfactory; expedient and efficacious. Was it right, he asked, for parliament to interfere where it was utterly impossible to do good? The noble mover might recommend a committee; but to what end could they follow his counsel if he could lead them no further? And not one step further had he gone. The Marquis of Lansdowne said that he had no hesitation in stating what he conceived to be the causes of the distress. Much of it, he thought, had been produced by a transition from a state of war to peace. He could not help recollecting, however, that a great part of the difficulties, out of which we had now to extricate ourselves, was to be ascribed to that fatal perseverance, with which we had persisted for many years, in contracting permanent money engagements in a depreciated currency. That was the root of the evil; but in saying so, he did not forget, that, unfortunate as these engagements were, they nevertheless were engagements which the honour of parliament was bound to respect, and which we must find means to discharge. It was one thing, however, to see the cause, and another to point out the remedy: for the present he confessed that he saw but one means of uniting all opinions on the subject, and that was retrenchment, retrenchment qualified by diminution of taxation. The Marquis of Salisbury expressed an opinion that a general inquiry would do more harm than good: he would prefer a select committee, and if that should fail in coming at the cause of the distress, then would be the time for an inquiry of the whole house. Lord King, in conclusion, moved as an amendment, "that a select committee should be appointed to inquire into the depressed state of the agricultural and manufacturing interests of the kingdom for the purpose of ascertaining whether any, and what relief could be afforded." This amendment, however, was received with as little favour as the original motion, which was lost on a division by one hundred and eighteen against twenty-five.

A similar motion was made, at a more advanced period of the session in the house of commons by Mr. Davenport. The discussion in that house lasted four nights, and in the course of it, the leading members of all parties delivered their opinions, which were in many respects contradictory on the extent as well as on the causes of the evil. The arguments and the views of the speakers, however, were generally the same that had been used in the house of lords, though being used by a greater number of persons, they were presented under a greater number of modifications. The motion was supported by the admitted fact of the prevailing distress; the duty of the house to give relief, if possible; and the necessity for that purpose of ascertaining the causes of the evil. On the other hand it was denied that the distress was general, and that if it was, it would be useless to enter into an inquiry without some specific remedy being pointed out, which had not yet been done. Great objections were also taken to the form of the proposed inquiry. There was no subject of any difficulty with which parliament had ever had to deal, but would necessarily come before this committee, and how could the whole house deal with such an investigation. Sir C. Burrell moved as an amendment that the petitions should be referred to a select committee, but this was still more vehemently resisted: Mr. Peel declaring that a committee of the whole house was the better of the two. Lord Althorp, with the leading members of the Whig party generally, as well as Mr. Huskisson and his followers, took part with the ministry; and the motion was eventually lost by a majority of two hundred and fifty-five against eighty-seven.

REDUCTION OF SALARIES OF PUBLIC OFFICERS, ETC.

Throughout the discussions on the state of the nation, the necessity of reducing taxation, and curtailing the public expenditure, had been insisted on with great force. On the 12th of February, Sir James Graham moved for a reduction of all the salaries paid to official, persons. The foundation of his motion was this:—that, subsequently to the Bank Restriction Act, all salaries had been increased, because the expense of living had increased; and he argued, therefore, that, as the restriction had been removed, and we had returned to cash payments, the salaries ought to be diminished. Justice, he said, demanded such a change High prices, produced by a depreciated currency, had brought them high salaries; low prices, produced by curing that depreciation, must bring them low salaries He did not, however, mean to include in his resolutions the privy-purse and the royal establishment, as these stood upon arrangements entered into at the beginning of the reign, and were hence inviolate. Neither would he interfere with the regular pay of the navy, which had been fixed in 1798, when prices were about the same as at the present time; or of the army, into which our soldiers had entered for a term of years, at a stipulated rate. He meant, however, to include military officers holding civil situations, such as colonial governments, because in many cases their salaries had been augmented without sufficient reason, and because some of these officers being removable at pleasure, their allowances might be altered without difficulty. Sir James Graham enumerated examples in which the salaries of governors had been raised; and stated that there had been an addition of one-third to the number of employés, and an increase of fifty per cent, on their salaries in 1827 as compared with 1797. He concluded by moving this resolution:—"That, whereas, subsequently to the act of the 37th George III., by which a suspension of cash-payments was effected, large augmentations had taken place in the salaries and pay of persons in civil and military employments, on account of the diminished value of money; and whereas the alleged reason for such augmentations had ceased to operate, in consequence of the passing of the 59th George III., which restored a metallic standard of value, resolved that in order to relieve the country from its extensive load of taxation, it was expedient to revise our present system of expenditure in respect of all such augmentations, for the purpose of making every possible reduction that could be effected without violation of good faith, or detriment to public justice." The motion was opposed by Mr. Dawson, the secretary of the treasury, chiefly on the ground that government had done all that as yet had been possible in the way of reduction, and felt a sincere desire to carry the spirit of economy to every practicable extent. Almost every recommendation of reduction, he said, suggested in the reports of committees, or by commissions of inquiry, had been carried into effect; and the recommendation of a committee which sat in 1797 to abolish sinecures and reversions had been acted upon as far as it was found possible. Government had, indeed, already acted upon the course which Sir James Graham recommended; it had been desirous to adopt the scale of 1797, and though that object had not been fully accomplished, yet, looking at the extent of public business now, and in 1797, he thought the house would see that salaries had been brought as near as possible to the rate of the latter year. After demonstrating the truth of his assertions by appealing to facts and figures, he said, that he trusted the house would negative the motion, in which case, in order to show that he was not desirous to get rid of the question, he would himself move the following resolution:—"That whereas his majesty was graciously pleased, in answer to an address of the house, to assure the house on the 27th of June, 1821, that his majesty would cause an inquiry to be made into all the departments of the civil government, with a view of reducing the number of persons employed in the various offices, and the amount of salaries paid: Resolved, that an humble address be presented to his majesty, that his majesty might be graciously pleased to lay before the house an account of the progress which had been made in such inquiry, and of the measures that had been taken in consequence. Also, that it was the opinion of that house, that in every establishment of the state, every saving ought to be made, consistently with the due performance of the public service, and without the violation of existing engagements." Sir James Graham thought this proposition of the secretary of the treasury better than his own, and he therefore withdrew his motion, and the house agreed to that of the minister.

This motion regarded the civil establishments only. On the 15th of February, Mr. Hume proposed a similar resolution in regard to the military and naval establishments, by moving an address to the crown, recommending a repeal or modification of all taxes required for the support of all the naval and military, as well as civil establishments, in order to afford immediate and effective relief to the country. Mr. Hume maintained that the scale at which the army and navy were kept up was much greater than necessity required, or the country could bear; and that they ought to be brought back as nearly as possible to what they had been in 1792, when the whole cost of the civil and military government was little more than one-fifth of the present cost. In his speech, he treated of every possible topic connected with taxation and expenditure. The taxes he proposed to reduce were numerous; and he insisted that all the reductions he proposed were practicable, if government would only apply the priming-knife to our overgrown establishments. The chancellor of the exchequer declined following Mr. Hume over the field in which he had expatiated, but he objected to the motion as irregular and inexpedient. It was a motion, he said, recommending a reduction of our civil, naval, and military establishments, without waiting for the estimates of those establishments which was to be laid before the house—without waiting to see whether any and what reductions might be proposed in them by ministers. How, he asked, would parliament determine the amount or practicability of any reduction, till it had inquired into the necessity and general bearing of the several branches of the expenditure? And how could that inquiry be instituted before ministers had laid before the house the responsible official statement of the amount of the several estimates for the year, so as to enable the house to decide upon the economy or extravagance observed in the management of the public money? He objected to the motion, therefore, as a departure from the usual practice of parliament. It was opposed by Messrs. Western and Grant, on the ground that it would be better for ministers first to produce their plan, and then to deal with it as the house might think fit. The house was already pledged to the full extent of this motion, which was, generally to reduce expenditure, and the next step ought to be to point out in what particular manner the reduction ought to be made. Lord Althorp said, that he felt every confidence in the economical disposition of ministers; but still it was desirable that the house should express its opinion that the taxes ought to be reduced in proportion to the reductions in the expenditure, although he did not conceive it possible that the taxes ought to be reduced to the extent proposed by Mr. Hume: his duty was to vote, therefore, for the motion. On a division, however, the motion was lost by one hundred and eighty-nine to sixty-nine.

MOTION FOR REVISING THE WHOLE SYSTEM OF TAXATION.

On the 25th of March Mr. Poulett Thompson moved the appointment of a committee to revise the whole system of our taxation. His object, he said, was to examine the incidents of our great taxation; for all authorities of any weight were agreed that revenue did not depend merely on the amount of what actually passed into the exchequer, but on the manner in which it was derived from the people. Mr. Poulett Thompson wished the house in the first place to consider the taxes which affected raw materials; and whether a reduction was not practicable without any diminution of revenue. He then passed in review certain very productive taxes, as those on tea, tobacco, foreign spirits, French wines, &c, the rate of which, he thought, might safely be lowered without any permanent detriment to the revenue. In conclusion, he said, that his wish was to give ministers a power which they could not exercise effectually without a committee. The alterations which he had in view, might produce a deficiency of revenue in the first stages of their operations, but ministers, supported by a committee fairly and impartially selected, might ask of parliament a vote of credit for all that would be necessary to fill up that deficiency with a much greater certainty of obtaining it, than they would have by acting upon their Own responsibility. The chancellor of the exchequer said, that there could be only one opinion as to the principle on which the motion was founded; namely, the expediency of raising the money required for the public service, in the way least injurious to the sources of public wealth; but he could not accede to the motion founded on this truism, consistently with the interests of the country, or the character of his majesty's government. The wish to relieve the public burthens was not the only guide to be followed in a question like this; regard was likewise due to the faith and honour of the country. Some of the taxes might be open to the objections urged against them; but such as they were we had mortgaged them to the public creditor; and it I was an imperative duty, not so to modify them as to shake the basis of his security, and weaken the strength of public credit. Great inconvenience would arise from consigning to the consideration of a committee all the various topics to which the honourable member had referred; and from calling upon the members of it to pronounce on the amount of our taxation; to decide how far it admitted of repeal or modification; and to declare how far, in their opinion, ultimate compensation might be made for any loss which might accrue from such loss or modification. The motion was supported by Lord Althorp, Sir Henry Parnell, and Messrs. Bankes and Warburton, who argued that it was difficult to conceive why the committee should be refused after the appointment of the late finance committee. If that committee had proceeded with its labours another year, it would have been occupied with the very matters which it was now proposed to submit to consideration. Lord Althorp said that, in his opinion, it would be a good plan to grant relief to the productive classes by a reduction of taxation, and the imposition of a property-tax. Mr. Peel protested against the appointment of a committee which, he contended, was to be neither less nor more than a delegation of the powers of the whole house, and of the government likewise, to twenty-one members. The house, he said, had been found sufficient in former times for the management of the taxes, and he saw no reason why it should now resign its power. On the other hand, Mr. Huskisson maintained that there was nothing unusual in referring questions of taxation to a committee. The salt-duty and the tax on leather had been referred to committees; and in these cases there had neither been alarms in the public mind, nor change of government, nor loss of confidence in his majesty's ministers. If the house could not refer such subjects to a committee without endangering the safety of the country, he thought that it had better give up inquisition altogether. He did not, indeed, expect any further reduction of taxation during the present session from the labours of this committee; but still the inquiry would do good. On a division the motion was lost by a majority of one hundred and sixty-seven against seventy-eight.

COMMITTEE ON THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S CHARTER.

GEORGE IV. 1830—1831

At this period it was the public opinion that the monopoly of the East India Company imposed a mischievous restraint on the trade of the country, without any reasonable cause or counterbalancing advantage. One large portion of the community, indeed, wished to have the renewal of their charter refused in toto to any extent, or under any modification; while another professed themselves willing to be satisfied with reducing the company to the level of ordinary merchants in matters of trade, leaving them in the possession of their widely-extended territories. In this conflicting state of opinion government had determined not to take the responsibility of proposing any measure of its own; but had promised that in the present session a committee should be appointed to make the inquiries which ought to precede any arrangement affecting interests so varied and important. The appointment of this committee was moved in both houses on the 9th of February; in the upper house by Lord Ellenborough, and in the commons by Mr. Peel. In making this proposition, the latter said, that he had no plan to submit for the future government of India; no opinion of ministers to state as to the renewal or modification of the charter. He proposed the committee that the question in all its bearings might be examined; but the details should be left for future consideration, when that committee should have formed its opinion. He proposed it, he continued, with the plain and honest view of having a full, perfect, and unreserved investigation into the affairs of the East India Company. The house, he said, would feel the importance of such an inquiry. It would bear in mind that higher objects were involved than the mere extension of trade. They would have to consider the whole character of the government, ruling over an immense extent of territory, wielding a powerful force, and administering an ample revenue. They were bound to consider the various modes in which that government affected the people over whom it ruled, and how far any alteration might affect the influence of the crown. The present form of government extended over many millions of people, and it had existed for a great number of years. Whether another form of government might be devised from which equal benefits would flow, he was not prepared to say; but sufficient was known of the present system to induce them to pause before they rashly interfered with it. As regards the company's commercial concerns, the documents which would be presented to the committee would contain full information on that subject; and at present he would only say that a reference to these returns would convince any unprejudiced mind that the sanguine expectations of great benefits, which some supposed would arise from throwing the trade entirely open, ought not to be entertained. The most interesting objects involved in the inquiry were the welfare and happiness of the Indian population placed under a government. He had seen a census, which made our native subjects in India amount to ninety millions. Looking at the extent of territory which in that country belonged to Great Britain, the vast population there subject to our sway, the great revolution by which they had come under our dominion, the immense distance at which they were removed from our shores, and the difference existing between the languages and usages of the natives and ours, the mind was almost lost in amazement. Whatever might be the wish of a British parliament to enlarge the rights and foster the interests of British citizens, there could be but one feeling as to the moral obligation which we had incurred to promote the improvement of these distant subjects, so far as the feelings, the institutions, and the prejudices of that country would allow. In the list of the committee proposed by Mr. Peel there were the names of three or four East India directors. Messrs. Hume and Baring objected to their being put on the committee, although they expressed an opinion that they would not act unfairly, and that there was a necessity of obtaining the information which they possessed. Mr. Astell, one of the directors named, declared that the company desired nothing more earnestly than the fullest inquiry. What the directors complained of most, was the ignorance which prevailed on this subject, and which, by deluding the country, was the greatest enemy they had to contend with. He courted inquiry; for the more the subject was investigated, the more likely would it be that the directors would have justice done them. Let the committee obtain the fullest evidence; let them examine all the documents that would be brought before them; and then they would be able to decide whether India could be better governed; whether justice could be more fairly administered; and whether the happiness of the natives could be more humanely consulted. He contended that the directors had done all they could, and that they had never lost sight of the interests of their country in the pursuit of their own. The committee was appointed as proposed, retaining the members of the East India Company.

DEBATE ON A PROPOSAL TO ALTER THE CURRENCY.

During this session Mr. Attwood brought the subject of the currency before the house, by proposing two resolutions; namely, to make silver a legal tender as, he contended, it had been before the Bank Restriction Act of 1797, and to restore small notes. This question underwent a full discussion but the motion of a double standard seemed so objectionable, and any scheme for depreciating the currency appeared pregnant with such dangerous consequences, that the motion was withdrawn without dividing the house. Several members, indeed, expressed an opinion that it was far from being certain that the standard adopted was the best; but the relief to be obtained by the double standard proposed was thought by them to be neither so great, nor so certain, as to justify the making of such an experiment. The motion was ably opposed by Mr. Herries, who said, that the proposal to introduce the silver standard was almost impracticable and unjust. The proposal was, in point of fact, to have the two precious metals in circulation at certain fixed proportions; a condition which rendered the execution of the scheme impossible. It was well known that the proportion in which these two metals interchanged now was different from the proportion which they held in 1798. The mover himself had admitted, indeed, that the difference was five per cent. It might not be quite so much, but assuming it to be so, to what did it lead? It made the proposed resolution a recommendation to the legislature to declare gold and silver equally a legal tender, although there was a difference of five per cent, in their relative values. What would this be, he asked, in practice? Every debtor, it was said, who had money to pay would be enabled to discharge his debt with five per cent, less than he was bound to pay at present; and no doubt, he would, if the opportunity was given to him. Suppose then that the resolutions should be agreed to; what would be the result? It would be proclaimed from one end of the country to the other that this house had come to a resolution the effect of which might be shortly stated thus:—namely, that every man who had claims payable on demand, every man who held notes of small or great value, every man who had outstanding debts, would, if he secured the amount of what was due to him before this resolution passed into a law, get the whole of his money; whereas, if he delayed beyond that period, he would only get ninety-five for every hundred pounds. What, he asked, would become of the Bank of England, or of every banking house in the kingdom, or of all debtors who were liable to pay upon demand all that they owed? Would not all transactions of commerce be suspended, and the whole country present one scene of confusion, and consternation, and ruin, when the house of commons proclaimed to all who had debts due to them, that if they did not collect them on the instant, they would assuredly be losers to the amount of five per cent.? Mr. Herries also contended that the alleged justice of the proposition was fallacious. Its justice was made to rest on this—that it was only fair to give the debtor the power of paying as he might have done in 1798; and it had been assumed, that up to that time men could discharge their debts in gold or silver, as they pleased. It was a great mistake, he argued, to suppose that silver had been the standard of this country throughout the last century. It had only been a legal tender by weight, but then it had become so depreciated, that, practically, there was no such thing as tender by weight, while by law the tender in coin was limited to twenty-five pounds; so that it was clear that in 1798 silver could not be the standard. He concluded by saying, that if a regulation could be made that a creditor should be obliged to take half his debt in one standard, at the will of the debtor, and that the debtor should not be obliged to pay more than half in one, and half in the other, it might, perhaps, be practicable to have the two; but he did not see how, otherwise, the two could exist together.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS—BILL FOR REPEALING THE DUTY ON BEER, ETC.

On the 15th of March the chancellor of the exchequer produced his annual exposition of the finances, and of the financial measures to be adopted in raising the expenditure of the present year. His statements presented no remarkable features except the repeal of the beer, cider, and leather duties. By this measure ministers desired to show their wish of alleviating the pressure of taxation on the lower classes. With reference to the extent of the repeal, the chancellor of the exchequer said, that "the amount of the three duties which I thus propose to repeal will be, on freer, £3,000,000, on leather from £340,000 to £350,000, and on cider, £25,000. These reductions will give direct relief to the people, amounting, at least, to £3,400,000., and will give them relief indirectly to a further amount; so that in fact the whole relief cannot be estimated at less than £5,000,000 a year." The remission of duty on beer was proposed to take place on the 10th of October following, and the reason given for such delay was, that the repeal should take place conjointly with an opening of the trade, when the time arrived for renewing the licences of public-houses. There can be no doubt that the measure proceeded from excellent motives; but it is certain that by encouraging the increase of public-houses to an indefinite extent, immorality and crime had been introduced into every nook and corner of the land. The picture which the poet Cowper drew of the evils of public-houses in his day have been increased a hundredfold by such a measure so that it is literally true, that,


     "Pass where'er we may, through city or through town,
     Village or hamlet of this merry land,
     Though lean and beggar'd, every twentieth face,
     Conducts th' unguarded nose to such a whiff
     Of state debauch, forth issuing from the sties
     That law has licensed, as makes temperance rec."

It is probable that this measure has occasioned more evil than any act passed during the whole period to which this portion of the history of England refers. Yet there can be no question that ministers conceived that they were legislating for the poor man's comfort; experience, however, has proved that it was for the poor man's bane. After stating the intention of ministers on this subject, the chancellor of the exchequer next gave his estimate of the revenue of the present year. The demands of the public service, including the charge of the national debt, were £47,812,000, and the available income was estimated at £50,470,000, leaving a probable balance of about £2,500,000 only for the sinking-fund. In the revenue of last year a deficiency of more than £500,000 below the estimate was acknowledged; but at the same time a clear surplus of £4,000,000 had been applied to the redemption of the national debt. To compensate for the loss of revenue from the repeal of the above duties, it was proposed to consolidate all the laws relative to the stamp-duties, for placing the management of the whole of that branch of the revenue under the stamp-office in England, and make similar articles everywhere subject to the same duties. It was also proposed to levy an additional duty on spirits; and also to effect a yearly saving of about £800,000 by the conversion of four per cent, stock into three and a half. These measures were subsequently carried into effect. The chancellor of the exchequer finally held out hopes of a reduction in the amount of expenditure, by the consolidation of various departments of the public service: this he said was likely hereafter to place at the disposal of the government a great surplus revenue which would enable ministers to make a further repeal of taxes. The principal reduction promised by government this year, that of the beer-duty, was not carried without great opposition. Brewers and publicans alike were arrayed against it, as it would break up their monopoly. The latter complained loudly of the deterioration to which the capital invested by them in the trade would be exposed, since every man who could pay two guineas might take out a licence. The landed interest, likewise, was against this measure: agriculturists wishing rather to see the duty on malt than beer repealed. They spoke much of its deficiencies in not providing any system of control, to secure the proper conduct of publicans, such as existed under the present licensing system. It would convert England they said, and with much truth, into one huge tippling-house, spreading throughout the country universal demoralization. An attempt was made on the second reading to throw out the bill, by a motion that it should be read a second time that day six months. This failed; but in the committee a stronger effort was made in favour of a clause proposed by Mr. Monck, to the effect of permitting the brewer to sell his beer on premises different from those on which it had been brewed. It was contended that this was only an enlargement of the former permission to sell beer on the premises on which it had been brewed; and that it would not injure the object sought by the bill in so far as protection against monopoly was concerned, while it would be beneficial to the interests of the existing dealers, whose interests ought not to be neglected. On the other hand, the clause was opposed as inconsistent with the principle of the bill. The effect of it would be, it was said, to prevent competition, and the public, instead of receiving an improved commodity, would remain as they were. When the committee divided, the proposed clause was rejected by a majority of only twenty-five. Opposition renewed their efforts against the bill on its third reading, when Mr. Batley moved a clause, to the effect of enforcing the statute of James I., against the odious crime of drunkenness. Mr. Brougham in opposing this motion said, that he was one of those who thought the general interests of morality were better consulted by permitting such clauses to slumber in the cells of the statute-book than by having them enforced. He asked, What was the real meaning of the statute of James I. It was that a penalty should be inflicted on any person who committed the odious and ungodly crime of drunkenness, from any liquor, except claret or champagne. If morality was to be enforced by act of parliament, let the law be impartial, and not punish the poor and illiterate for a crime in which the rich might indulge with impunity. He would like to see the justice of the peace, or magistrate, who would fine a knight of the shire, or independent member of an independent borough, who in the morning might possibly be brought before him in a state presenting a good imitation of the odious and ungodly crime of drunkenness, which called down the wrath of the moral legislators of the age of King James. Sir Robert Inglis having reminded Mr. Brougham that a higher authority than that of James I. had denounced drunkenness, and that if he himself were found in the street in a state of inebriety, no magistrate performing his duty would fail to punish him, Mr. Brougham replied, that he had not the good fortune to be educated at the university represented by the baronet. It was, indeed, well replied by Dr. Johnson to a lady who inquired of him to which university she should send her son: "Why madam, I can only say, that there is an equal quantity of port drunk at each." He was perfectly aware that a higher authority than King James had denounced drunkenness, but the difference was, that that high authority made no distinction of persons, whereas the act of James did. Could the right honourable baronet point out one instance of a member of parliament having been punished for drunkenness? Sir Robert repeated, that if Mr. Brougham would go into the street drunk, he would soon meet with due punishment; he replied, that it would be grossly unfair, inasmuch as there were thousands of gentlemen in the same situation never noticed. This was an unanswerable argument, and the subject was dropped.

THE QUESTION OF REFORM.

It has been seen that the Marquis of Blandford moved resolutions pledging the house forthwith to employ themselves in the work of reform, as an amendment to the address. On the 18th of February he brought forward a more specific plan. The house of commons, he argued, had ceased to be framed as the essential principles and earlier practice of the constitution required; a circumstance which had arisen from represented places falling into decay, on the one hand, while, on the other, wealthy and populous towns, which had sprung up in the meantime, were unrepresented. His object was, he said, to restore the principles of representation as they had been established in the days of Henry III. and the three Edwards. For this purpose he proposed that a committee should be chosen by ballot, to take a review of all boroughs and cities in the kingdom, and report to the secretary of the home department those among them which had fallen into decay, or had in any manner forfeited their right to representation on the principles of the English constitution, as anciently recognized by national and parliamentary usage. The home-secretary was bound to act immediately on this report, and to relieve all such places from the burthen of sending members to parliament in future, while he filled up the vacancies by towns which had been hitherto unrepresented. Another part of his plan was to revive the custom of paying wages to members for their attendance in parliament; a provision which he thought would prevent abuses. He also proposed to extend the right of voting to all copyholders and leaseholders, and to place the representation of Scotland on the same footing with that of England. He concluded, by moving, to bring in a bill to restore the constitutional influence of the house of commons. This motion was supported by Sir Francis Burdett, and by Messrs. Pendarvis, Benett, and Hobhouse, with others of the school of reformers. Sir Francis Burdett said, that he could not comprehend all the details of the propositions; but he understood it to be a question of reform, and, therefore, he would support it. He admitted that the house was composed of men of as enlightened understandings, and as addicted to the English principles of freedom, as could be found collected in any nation of the world; but he asserted that they were returned to the house under an influence which rendered them incapable of exerting the faculties of their minds, and injurious to the country. He remarked:—"Look at myself, I have gone through the whole process under the present system of representation, and a most ruinous one it has been. Early in life, I came into this house in order to defend the constitution of England; I purchased my seat of a borough-monger. He was no patron of mine; he took my money, and by purchase I obtained a right to speak in the most public place in England, With my views, and with my love of the liberty of my country, I did not grudge the sacrifice I made for that commanding consideration. If I had abused the right I had thus purchased, and passed through corruption to the honours of the peerage, I should not enjoy the satisfaction I now feel." He had also tried, he said, the county system. He stood for a county, though he would not have given twopence for the representation of that county, his object having been to expose the abominable system, and the oppressive tyranny of solitary confinement in England. He had also gone through the remedial operation as it was called, of the Grenville act, so that, as he had sounded all the shoals and shallows of the system, it was not wonderful he should be a great advocate for an alteration. The question was this: ought the house to be an assembly of retainers of the crown, or of representatives of the people of England. The bill was opposed by Messrs. Feel, Twiss, Maberly, and Stanley. Mr. Twiss said, that a scheme had never been produced so happily calculated to ridicule parliamentary reform, although it was of course far from the intention of the noble lord by whom it had been introduced. Mr. Peel also amused the house with remarks on the title of the bill, and said that he would never be a party to a wholesale depreciation of the elective franchise, or assent even to the first stage of the bill, which devolved on a bal-lotted committee the power of destroying all boroughs which they might think ought not to send members. Lord Althorp moved as an amendment, "That it is the opinion of this house, that a reform in the representation of the people is necessary," should be substituted for the motion, for leave to bring in a bill; but both the amendment and the original motion were negatived without a division.

THE CASE OF EAST RETFORD.

During this session the proposal for transferring the franchise of East Retford to Birmingham was ultimately rejected, and the privilege extended to the adjoining hundred. During the debate Mr. Peel expressly disclaimed the imputation which had been thrown out, that this selection had been made with a view to increase the influence of the Duke of Newcastle, whom the Catholic relief bill had now thrown into the ranks of opposition. There were circumstances in the case of East Retford which should induce parliament to extend the franchise to the adjoining hundred. One element in the case which weighed with him, was the consideration that the county of Nottingham sent only eight members to parliament; and he saw no good reason why that number should be reduced. Lord Howick declared, that though he would vote for the transfer of the franchise to Birmingham, he thought it useless to inflict punishment in individual instances, when it was notorious that a large majority of members obtained their seats by venal means. The proper remedy would be to adopt a general measure; and he, therefore, moved the following resolutions:—"That bribery has been repeatedly and habitually employed to influence the election of members of parliament. That this fact has been often established, never denied, and was especially proved at the bar of this house in the first session of the present parliament, in the cases of Penryn and East Retford. That it is notorious that a similar practice is openly resorted to in many of the cities and boroughs of the United Kingdom. That the recent disfranchisement of Grampound does not appear to have in any degree diminished the prevalence of this evil. That this house, therefore, finding that the passing of specific bills directed against particular cases, has neither had the effect of removing the existence, or arresting the progress of corruption, is of opinion that its character may best be vindicated by abandoning these useless and expensive proceedings, in order to adopt some general and comprehensive measure, the only means of effectually checking so scandalous an abuse." These resolutions were negatived by a large majority.

MR. O'CONNELL'S BILL FOR REFORM BY UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE, ETC.

On the third reading of the East Retford bill, the first attempt was made in the British parliament to introduce principles new to the representation of the country: namely, that the votes of the electors should be given by ballot. This proposition came from that most reckless of all demagogues; that prototype of the Athenian Cleon, Mr. O'Connell, who argued that the ballot would protect the voter from all undue influence, whether of fear or corruption. On the other hand, it was argued that the mode of taking votes by ballot would preclude representatives confronting their constituents; but it was not till after nomination, and the demand of a poll, that the ballot would commence; so that this mode would not take away from constituents the power they now enjoyed of requiring explanations of past conduct, and pledges for the future. The motion, which was lost, had been favoured by certain occurrences at Newark, which were brought before the house of commons on the 1st of March, on a petition from some of the electors of that borough against the Duke of Newcastle. His grace was possessed of large property within the borough—some private, and some held under a crown lease—and had always been able to decide the election. Mr. Sadler had recently been returned on his interest in opposition to Sergeant Wylde; and the petition stated that "the return of Mr. Sadler was obtained by means of the prevailing belief, founded on the experience of former elections, that such of the duke's tenants as should vote against his grace's nominee would be expelled from their tenancies; that many of the tenants gave their votes to the opposing candidate; and that they had in consequence received notice to quit their holdings, whether the same was house or land, and whether it constituted part of the estate of the crown, or the private property of his grace." The petition further stated, that his grace had neither denied that such notices had been given, nor had disclaimed them; but had rather justified them, by stating that he had a right "to do what he would with his own." In moving that this petition should be referred to a select committee, Mr. Poulett Thomson informed the house, that not only the use thus made of crown property affected the constitutional character of the representation, but that its original investment was a ministerial job, which had caused a great pecuniary loss to the country. The Duke of Newcastle, he said, held about nine hundred and sixty acres of land surrounding the town, by a lease, granted in 1760, at a rent of only £36. This lease had been renewed in 1815, nine years after its expiration, at a rent of £2,060; but it was still too low, as the estimated value was £3,500. The pecuniary loss was therefore well worthy of attention: but this was a trifle compared to the political purposes to which the property had been applied. The noble lessee never gave a lease for more than one year, in order to keep the voters under his power; and the petition stated the manner in which this power had been employed. If the allegations were true, the house was bound to interfere; for though he did not mean to impugn the just and natural influence of the landlord over his tenant, he appealed to the house whether the power arrogated in the case before them did not rather resemble the tyranny of the slave-driver, than the proper influence of a British landlord. There was not even, in the present instance, the objection of interference with the rights of private property; this was a species of property against the future abuse of which the house might guard, though they could not interfere with the existing lease. They could address the crown, praying that the lease should not be renewed; and, with a view to have the allegations sifted, he moved that the petition be referred to a select committee. This motion was supported by Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Hobhouse, who set no bounds to their indignation. The latter especially exerted his eloquence on the subject. He remarked:—"Suppose the king's government should send to his grace the Duke of Newcastle, to let him know that when his lease expired he should no longer have the benefits of that lease; suppose such an intimation was given to his grace, and that it was alleged and understood that his ejectment from the possession of this property took place in consequence of his having given a vote against government upon some great and leading question. If that were done, would it not be denounced as an attack upon our dearest privileges, as an invasion of the most sacred birthright of Englishmen: the liberty to assert and maintain their opinions? Compare the conduct of the government in such a case, with the conduct of the noble peer in the present instance: there were these poor men, because they had to vote against his grace's candidate, banished from their homes, driven from their happy firesides, and deprived of all the comforts of life. Could such conduct on the part of the noble duke bear comparison with the case of the government depriving the noble duke of these crown-lands on account of his giving a vote against them?" It was stated on the other hand, that many of the allegations in the petition were gross perversions of fact. The crown-lands, for instance, were not in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, but were scattered about among the adjacent villages to a considerable extent; and the crown at the renewal of the lease had only twelve houses and twenty-six cottages. There were others in the neighbourhood who held land to a much greater extent than that belonging to the crown. Mr. Sadler himself said that the petition was a mere election paper, made up of wanton exaggerations, and unfounded misstatements, for electioneering purposes. He also vindicated his patron's character for humanity and consideration, as regarded the inhabitants of Newark. He denied that he was exposed to the operation of any sinister influence, and could conscientiously say, that the noble duke had left him on all questions to pursue his own line of conduct. Mr. Peel defended the principle of the whole transaction, as well as the mode by which the land in question had been acquired. He could see no valid distinction between this property and that which descended to a man as a freehold from his ancestors. He remarked:—"The lease which his grace possessed of this crown-land gave him a right to deal with it as any other possessions during that period; and in dealing with the property of the crown as with his own, it was obvious that he committed no breach of privilege. Now the petitioners entirely confined themselves to the crown possessions held by the noble duke, praying that a lease of them might in future be refused to him. They did not even refer to his other property, with regard to which he had dealt precisely in the same manner. It was plain therefore that if, in the management of his own private possessions, he had committed no breach of privilege, he had committed none by dealings in a similar manner with the property of the crown. He would not say that the Duke of Newcastle did not dispossess these tenants; but, without entering into the question, he would say that superior to the privileges of that house were other considerations, to which they were bound in duty and conscience to defer, namely, the rights of property. Here was no allegation that menaces had been employed; there was only the fact that seven tenants had been dispossessed. Now, if they were to control the rights of property, under the idea that those rights had been exercised in controlling an election, a precedent would be set which would be not merely inconvenient, but positively dangerous; for nothing could be more dangerous than to say, they would not suffer any tenant to be dispossessed who had voted in opposition to his landlord's wishes. It was in vain that honourable gentlemen exclaimed against the influence which any peer derived from the possession of property: there was no difference between that, and the influence which any other great landed proprietor enjoyed; nor could any species of reform exclude such influence. Property, he contended, should always have an influence in that house, no matter whether it was in the hands of peers or commoners." The motion for referring the petition to a select committee was negatived by a majority of one hundred and ninety-four against sixty-one.

MR. O'CONNELL'S BILL FOR REFORM BY UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE AND VOTE BY

BALLOT, ETC.

Of all the various plans for altering the representation, whether suggested by an honest desire to obviate the necessity of sweeping innovations, or springing from the designs of restless demagogues, there were none against which so little could be said as the proposition for conferring the elective franchise on populous commercial towns. When, therefore, Lord John Russell failed in transferring the elective franchise of East Retford to Birmingham, he did not hesitate to bring the subject before parliament again, by moving for a bill to confer that privilege, independently of all other considerations, on Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester. He founded the constitutional nature of the proposed alteration on the known practice of parliament, which extended such rights to unrepresented places, when they had acquired importance by their wealth and population. He remarked:—"It is true the proposal hitherto had been, that the franchise should not be conferred till the house had a forfeiture to dispose of; but it is now plain that if the towns in question are to wait for such a transfer, there is no probability of their obtaining it: so numerous are the difficulties stated in both houses of parliament." His lordship said that it did not seem very reasonable that the fitness of Leeds or Manchester to be represented should be said to depend on the good or bad conduct of the electors of Penryn or East Retford: their claims must rest on circumstances in their own situation; and if that situation was such as to render it just and desirable that they should be represented, where, he asked, was the sense of saying, that what was just and reasonable ought not to be done, because the electors of some other place had refused to do what was wicked? Lord John Russell then entered into various details demonstrative of the growing greatness of the towns in question. In continuation he remarked that he could not discover any sound reason why so many citizens, and so much wealth, should remain unrepresented, when the principle as well as the practice of the constitution, had pointed out the manner of admitting them into parliament. He knew it would be said that there was no limitation to the principles that if it was held good to admit three towns, it might equally be extended to twenty, thirty, forty, or even indefinitely. He confessed this; and he saw no reason why, if Sheffield, or any other town should at some future period attain the same rank, it should not obtain the same privilege. It was not probable, however, that the principle could ever be applied to more than four or five towns in the whole realm. Parliament, moreover, had not always been so fastidious in regard to the extension of a principle. It had not refused, for instance, the disfranchisement of the forty-shilling freeholders. But the present bill would not even add permanently to the members of the house; he proposed that in future cases of disfranchisement, the franchise should be allowed to drop altogether, instead of being transferred. The whole measure seemed to him incapable of alarming the most timid person, and it ought to be received with willingness by the sternest opposers of innovation. When he looked at other countries, the wisdom and policy of the measure was still more imperiously forced on his conviction. We could not shut our eyes to the fact that a collision between royal authority and popular resistance was rapidly approaching in France, though all must regret that some compromise was not contemplated which might save society from its consequences. It was for us, then, to profit by the warning, and awaken in time to a perception of the nice mechanism of our own representative government. It behoved all who were lovers of liberty without disorder, and of peace without slavery, to watch anxiously at such a period; endeavouring so to accommodate our system to altered times and circumstances, as to render it worthy of the respect and affection of the people. The constitution itself supplied us with the means; we had only to use its own renovating principles. Its fabric was not, as some supposed, that of a Grecian temple, perfect and complete in all its parts, which could not suffer alteration without the destruction of its symmetry; it was rather like a Gothic building, susceptible of enlargement, consistently with the integrity of its ornaments and the security of its duration. The views on which this bill was founded were repeated and enforced by Lord Sandon, General Gascoyne, Dr. Lushington, and Messrs. Huskisson, Bright, and Brougham. All of these members did not go to the same lengths as Lord John Russell, but all admitted that it was desirable the towns in question should be represented. Some would give them members only as a sequel of the disfranchisement of corrupt boroughs. Mr. Huskisson, who delivered his last speech on parliamentary reform, said that he would have been better pleased to have been able directly to transfer the franchise of East Retford to Birmingham; but as the late decision of the house had rendered that impracticable, he would support the motion. He observed that the time was fast approaching when ministers would be compelled to come down to the house with some measure, or to resign their situations, and nothing was more unwise than for a government to delay important propositions, till compelled by overwhelming majorities. He did not wish it to be understood, however, that his vote implied he could ever be brought to sanction the substitution of a new system of representation for that which existed. He added:—"To a more extensive parliamentary reform, a measure founded upon the principle of a general revision, reconstruction, and remodelling of our present constitution, I have always been opposed; and while I have a seat in this house I shall give it my most decided opposition. If such an extensive reform were effected, we might go on for two or three sessions in good and easy times, and such a reformed parliament might adapt itself to one mode of government on the ordinary concerns of the country; but if such an extensive change were effected in the constitution of parliament, sure I am that, whenever an occasion shall arise of great popular excitement or re-action, the consequence will be a total subversion of our constitution, followed by anarchy and confusion, and terminating either in the tyranny of a fierce democracy, or a military despotism; these two great calamities maintaining that natural order of succession which they have been always hitherto seen to observe. I am, therefore, opposed to such an extensive change and revision of our representative system." The motion for leave to bring in the bill was negatived by a majority of one hundred and eighty against forty.

If this bill was the most harmless modification under which reform could be proposed, that which was subsequently brought before parliament by Mr. O'Connell was, on the other hand, the most wild and ruinous. That arch-demagogue moved for leave to bring in a bill to establish triennial parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot, the foundation of this system being this proposition—simple indeed in its nature, but tending to anarchy—that every man who pays a tax, or is liable to serve in the militia, is entitled to have a voice in the representation. Lord John Russell, who took occasion of the motion to introduce certain resolutions of his own, embracing a more comprehensive scheme of change than his former proposal, said, that he could not consent to any of Mr. O'Connell's scheme. Triennial parliaments might not be very objectionable; but as to the other propositions, he considered them totally incompatible with the constitution of England. Lord Althorp spoke to the same effect: as any change was an evil, he said, the least change was the limit to which he should go. Mr. Brougham adopted the same course: the duration of parliaments might be shortened, he thought, but he set his face against universal suffrage and vote by ballot. His arguments against them were very cogent and convincing. A county election, he said, could not be managed like an election at a club, where the box was handed round, and the pellet thrown in, and there was an end of it. To contest for a county or extensive city, a man must be constantly among the people. His friends and himself should be unremittingly engaged in active canvas; committees and subdivisions of committees must be occupied in parcelling out the several districts, and ascertaining how their strength stood in this part and the other; landlords were to be sought out, and they of course would exercise an influence over their tenants. He would suppose that those who advocated this system would be able to devise some plan by which the voter was to be able to vote in such a manner as that mortal could not discover, except from himself, how he voted; that he was to be placed in some kind of sentry-box, and provided with some kind of stamped pellet, the forgery of which would no doubt be made an offence: it being assumed all this while that notwithstanding promises made to his landlord, and the candidate, his friend, the elector intended to give his vote to another. The vote was given, and against a promise. Well, he went afterwards to the candidate, congratulated him upon his prospect of success, not failing to add, that his vote was one of the items which contributed to the prospect. But then see the moral; see how far the concealment of what was done could be continued; how far the knowledge of it could be kept from the landlord, to secure whose interest in retaining him in his farm he had made the promise. No one could see what passed in the sentry-box, or how the pellet was disposed of; but were there no such things as conversation amongst friends in going to or coming from church, or at the club, or at the alehouse? was nothing of the nature of the vote to be allowed to transpire? was a man to keep such a watch and guard over his words and actions for three years, until the next election come, that no mortal could discover what he did? He must not tell it to his wife or his child; he must keep it locked up from his bosom friend; he must not broach it to his pot-companion, but be as dumb as the tankard which they had emptied between them; and this state of silence must be observed for three years. Thus far for the elector: how far was the concealment to be operated upon by the candidate? He had found out that he was unsuccessful; that where he had been promised five hundred votes he had not got fifty, the seed giving back one for ten, instead of yielding ten for one, as a good husbandman had a right to expect. Inquiries will be set on foot as to where the deficiency was. It might be a mistake of the poll-clerks: the poll-books were examined and all was right still. Then the Lord Johns and Sir Roberts, who had promised their interests, were questioned; but they insisted that it could not be amongst their tenants, for they had all promised, and had all, no doubt, religiously kept their words. Each defended his own tallies; but one had not voted for every tally promised. Suspicions were excited, and some of the voters questioned. The man so questioned had only one of three answers to give: he must say that he voted against the candidate, by which he was sure to lose his farm; or he must refuse to say how he voted, by which his loss of the farm would be equally certain; or he must insist and solemnly call God to witness that he had voted as he had promised. But even this latter alternative would not completely lull suspicions: there would still be the watchings and questionings of friends, and of agents, for no act that could be framed could prevent these. In the course of these something would turn up to fix the suspicions on which bad landlords would be ready to act against their tenants; and it was on the assumption of bad landlords, who would visit the refusal to vote for them or their tenants, that the necessity of vote by ballot was at all defended. The bad landlord would act upon suspicion: the more so, as, there being only fifty votes where five hundred had been promised, the chance was ten to one that any one of the five hundred who said he kept his word, was stating a falsehood. Examples would then be made of a few: and what would be the result? Why, that at the election a vast number would not vote at all. Some even of those who had kept their word would take that as the surest way to prove that they were not in the pay of the opposite party. The landlord would compel others, whom he strongly suspected, not to vote, as the only way of preventing their accession to the other side; or he might persuade some of those who, he knew, if they voted at all, would vote against him, to pair off with those whom he suspected, and thus deprive his adversary of the whole. But was there no other way of coming at the fact of how a voter had kept his word? If, in voting against his promise, he acted for his principles, he would be likely to make it known for the sake of those principles; if from friendship, he would probably tell it to gratify his friend; or if he gave it from motives of interest, nothing was less likely than that he should conceal it, for the attainment of the object would render the disclosure useful; and in this way the secret would come out, and the offended landlord at last get at it, and the visitation upon him, which the vote by ballot was intended to avert, would follow. But was this the only evil which resulted from this system? Was there not a far worse remaining behind? Did not all this study and concealment of a solemn promise violated; this long watching and guard over a man's words and actions, so as constantly to appear that which he was not, tend to make him lead the life of a hypocrite; that character of whom it was so justly and eloquently said, that his life was one continued lie! What could be expected from a man who had deceived those who had trusted him, and from one election to the other was obliged to keep a constant watch on his words, lest, in an unguarded moment, he should betray his secret, the discovery of which would not be more injurious to his interests than fatal to his character? What must be the opinions of those who could believe that a man, who was for years, nay, even for months or weeks, habitually false on one subject which was dear to him, could be true on all others? Such an opinion was founded in utter ignorance of the human mind: false such a man was, and false he must be, until human nature became totally changed, or until men's opinions of each other were totally subverted. Thus the ballot would have but little efficiency, and that little would be purchased at a great price. Mr. O'Connell's motion was lost by a majority of three hundred and nineteen against thirteen; and the resolutions moved by Lord John Russell were afterwards negatived by two hundred and thirteen against one hundred and seventeen. These resolutions proposed to give members to large and manufacturing towns, and additional members to counties of great wealth and population. They also proposed to decrease the numbers of members for boroughs, giving to such boroughs compensation by means of a fixed sum to be paid annually for a certain number of years. Among the towns which were proposed to be comprehended were Macclesfield, Stockport, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Brighton, Whitehaven, Wolverhampton, Sunderland, Manchester, Bury, Bolton, Dudley, Leeds, Halifax, Sheffield, North and South Shields, and it was stated that the same principle would extend to the representation of such large cities as Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Belfast. But the time was not yet come when such an extensive reform as this could be entertained in the British parliament.

BILL FOR REMOVING THE CIVIL DISABILITIES AFFECTING JEWS.

GEORGE IV. 1830—1831

The only other measure affecting the constitution of the legislative body during this session was proposed by Mr. Grant, who moved for leave to bring in a bill to repeal the civil disabilities affecting British born subjects professing the Jewish religion. In support of this motion Mr. Grant narrated to the house the treatment which the Jews had received from the conquest down to the last century, when the act for naturalizing foreign Jews was repealed within a few months after it was passed, in consequence of the commotions excited by the measure. From that time, he said, nothing had been done respecting: the Jews; they had derived no benefit from the growing liberality of legislation; and were alone still placed beyond the pale of the constitution. They were excluded from practising law and physic, from holding any corporate office; and from being members of parliament. They might even be prevented from voting for members of parliament, if the oath were tendered to them. They were, also, subject to local grievances; for in the metropolis, at least, they could not obtain the freedom of any of the companies, nor exercise any retail trade. And yet they formed a community of peaceable and industrious persons. They were less stained with political offences than any other body of men; and by their wealth they added to the opulence of the country; and all they asked in return was to be admitted to the benefits of the constitution. The house had nothing to do but follow the example presented by the Catholic bill of last year. The introduction of the bill was opposed by Sir Robert Inglis and the chancellor of the exchequer, as inconsistent with what had been the constant practice of the legislature; namely, to protect Christianity under some of its forms in all their enactments. The proposition could only stand upon the principle that no regard should be paid to a man's religion. It would therefore apply to Turks and Mohammedans as well as to Jews; and it would only teach the people that parliament held Christianity a matter of indifference, though Christianity was bound up as part and parcel of the constitution. As for the Catholic relief bill, that was no precedent; there was a broad distinction between admitting to power in a Christian state, those who were sworn enemies to Christianity, and those who were Christians of different denominations. Jews were aliens in the popular and substantial sense; they had another country and an interest not merely distinct from, but hostile to that of the country which they might happen to inhabit. The solicitor-general said, that, according to the law of England, the Jews had no rights; for when they came back to this country at the Restoration, after being driven out, no law had passed giving them the rights of citizenship. But how did they stand at present? Their religion was protected; their children legitimate; and they had power to purchase land, and to transmit it to posterity. No man could doubt that Christianity was a part of the law of England; and this was to be borne in mind in legislating for those who were not Christians. The question is, "Will you put an end to all religious distinctions?" There could never be a thorough community between Christians and Jews; there was a marked line of distinction between them; a complete individuality in the Jewish character. The bill was supported by Sir James Mackintosh, Dr. Lushington, and Messrs. Macauley and Smith, on the ground that it was persecution to look at a man's religion when speaking of his fitness for civil rights; and that from the introduction of Jews, no danger was to be dreaded either to the constitution or to Christianity. To refuse the bill, it was said, after admitting Catholics, would be an absurd and inexplicable contradiction. On a division the motion for introducing the bill was carried by a majority of one hundred and fifteen against ninety-seven. Before the second reading came on several petitions were presented in favour of the bill, from London, Leeds, Liverpool, and other places, as well as from private individuals. On the second reading the usual topics in favour of it were enforced by Sir Robert Wilson, Lord John Russell, and Messrs. O'Connell, Brougham, and Huskisson. Sir Robert Peel—for the honourable secretary had now become a baronet by the death of his father—said that he would not go so far as to say that this bill would ûnchristianize the legislature; but its principle was clearly this, that every form and ceremony whatever, which gave an assurance of adherence to Christianity, should be abolished; and all who supported the bill must maintain that every man, whether a sectarian or infidel, would have a right to the same concession, though he could give no affirmation which would afford a security to the state. General Gascoyne moved as an amendment that the bill should be read a second time that day six months, and on a division this was carried by a majority of two hundred and twenty-eight against one hundred and sixty-five, and the bill was lost.

BILL FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN CASES OF FORGERY.

On the 1st of April Mr. Peel brought in a bill to alter the law in cases of forgery. The principal object of this bill was to abrogate partially the capital punishment which had so long been affixed to almost every branch of this offence. Thus he proposed to remit the capital punishment in all those cases where serious doubts attended its infliction, and where the complainants by due caution could have saved themselves—such as forging receipts for money, orders for the delivery of goods, forging stamps, uttering forged stamps, attempting to defraud by issuing forged orders for goods, the fabrication of the material of Bank of England paper, and forging deeds and bonds. Capital punishment was still retained in all forgeries of the great seal, privy seal, and sign-manual; in forgeries of wills, on the public funds, on bank or money notes, or orders for the payment of money; and, in a word, of all documents which represent money, and are negotiable and transferable for it. This bill did not meet with the views of a strong party in the house, who thought that the punishment of death should not be inflicted in any cases of forgery, nor extended to any offence short of murder. On the third reading of the bill, Sir James Mackintosh moved a clause repealing the punishment of death in all cases of forgery, except that of the forgery of wills. It also provided that any person against whom a conviction of forgery should pass should lie in prison, either with or without hard labour, at home for the space of fourteen years, or if sent abroad to a penal colony, should be transported for any term not exceeding that number of years. He further proposed to give, not only the power of inflicting either of these punishments, but also that of accumulating both whenever the circumstances of the case should be so atrocious as to deserve the greatest severity. He proposed, likewise, to vest a power in the crown, authorising it to treat all persons convicted of forgery in such a manner as would mark forgery as an offence of a blacker dye than any other which was not directed against life. Finally, to meet the objection that the importance of employing persons of education in the public service in new and remote colonies would lead, first to the pardon, and then to the employment in public situations of such persons convicted of forgery, he proposed to take away all power of remitting or relaxing the punishment of forgery, except by a representation to the king of the grounds on which it was proposed to remit it, and by a remission of it by the king at home. This clause was carried, and Mr. Peel thereupon relinquished all charge of the bill, hinting at the same time that the house would probably regret the decision to which it had come. On its introduction in the lords, therefore, the lord chancellor declared himself against so sweeping a repeal of the capital punishment, and moved that the bill should be restored to the state in which it had originally been introduced into the house of commons. His views were supported by Lords Tenterden, Wynford, and Eldon. The amendment of the lord chancellor was carried by a large majority; and although when the bill was returned to the commons those who supported Sir James Mackintosh's amendment complained that the lords had improperly treated them, the lord chancellor's amendment was finally agreed to, and the bill passed.

BILL FOR AMENDING THE LAW OF LIBEL.

In a previous article certain state prosecutions for libel have been noticed. These prosecutions, and the conduct of the attorney-general in promoting them, were brought before the house of commons by Sir Charles Wetherell, on a motion for copies of the proceedings on the three ex officio informations against the proprietor of a London newspaper. As the motion was merely for the production of papers, and the attorney-general was willing that the papers should be produced, there was no debate, but the general impression of the house seemed to be that the prosecutions were harsh and vindictive, and that Sir James Scarlett, notwithstanding his Whig education and opposition life, was inclined to be a very dictatorial attorney-general. Sir James attempted to recover the favour of the house by a bill to mitigate in some respects the laws of libel as they existed in what were called the Six Acts. By one of these acts it was provided that a second conviction for a seditious or blasphemous libel might be punished with transportation; and another set forth that every person who should publish a newspaper, or certain other publications, should first enter into a recognizance of three hundred pounds, with two sufficient securities, in the metropolis, or of two hundred pounds, if in the country. The object of this clause was to guard against the circulation of blasphemous and seditious libels, and to ensure a forthcoming fund, out of which their authors should pay the awarded penalty. By the bill now introduced the punishment for the second offence was to be repealed, and the securities demanded raised from three to four hundred pounds in London, and from two to three hundred pounds in the country. To the first of these propositions there was no objection; but a strenuous opposition was made to the second, to adopt which, it was said, would be imposing new shackles on the press. When the bill was in committee the clause was rejected on a motion by Lord Morpeth; but on the third reading, the attorney-general having collected a more numerous attendance of ministerial members, moved and carried its restoration.

ALTERATIONS IN COURTS OF JUSTICE.

Committees of the house of commons, and the law-commissioners appointed by the crown, had recently found much to blame in the arrangements for the distribution of justice in Wales. In consequence of this an act was passed during the present session abolishing the separate system of Welsh judicature, and annexing the jurisdiction of the Welsh judges to that of the judges of England. By the same bill the number of puisne judges was increased from twelve to fifteen—a new one being added to each of the courts of king's bench, common pleas, and exchequer. In Scotland, on the other hand, while courts were abolished, the number of judges in the remaining court was diminished by the subtraction of two from its fifteen lords ordinary, or working judges, on whose ability to get through the work depends whether the eight other judges, who sit four and four in two courts of review, shall have judgments brought before them.

ILLNESS OF HIS MAJESTY.

During the sitting of parliament, business was interrupted by the illness of the king. His majesty's health had, indeed, for a considerable time been in a precarious state, but the first bulletin was not issued till the 15th of April, when it was announced that he was labouring under a bilious attack, accompanied by an embarrassment of breathing. The disorder was subsequently ascertained to have been ossification of the vessels of the heart. The symptoms continued to vary, the patient enjoying temporary intervals of comparative ease; but they did not give way, and they brought with them such an accession of bodily debility as rendered painful even the slightest exertion.

BILL TO AUTHORISE THE ADHIBITING OF THE SIGN-MANUAL BY STAMP.

In consequence of the illness of his majesty, on the 24th of May a message was sent down to both houses of parliament, stating that his majesty found it inconvenient and painful to sign with his own hand those public documents which required the sign-manual, and requesting the parliament to provide means for the temporary discharge of that function of the crown without detriment to the public service. A bill, therefore, was immediately passed, allowing the sign-manual to be adhibited by a stamp. Before the stamp could be affixed, a memorandum, describing its nature and its objects, signed by three privy-councillors, was to be endorsed upon the document. The stamp was then to be affixed in the presence of his majesty, by some person whom his majesty should command to do so by word of mouth. The presence of certain high officers of state was likewise required to attest what had been done; and the party affixing the stamp was to adjoin to the royal signature the words, "In his majesty's presence, and by his majesty's command," and subscribe the same with his own name. The bill was limited in its duration to the present session.

DEATH OF THE KING, AND ACCESSION OF THE DUKE OF CLARENCE, WILLIAM IV.

About the end of May a favourable turn of the disorder of his majesty gave rise to a hope of his recovery. This feeling, however, was soon dispersed, for the chest became affected, the lungs completely decayed, blood was mingled with the expectoration, and general debility rapidly ensued. His end was evidently near; and a short time before it took place his physicians intimated to his majesty that all further endeavours to avert the stroke of death would be unavailing. He calmly answered, "God's will be done," and subsequently received the sacrament from the hands of the Bishop of Chichester. Soon after his voice became faint and low, and for several days his words were scarcely articulated; his sleep also was broken and disturbed. At length, on the night of the 25th of June, the angel of death once more approached the palace of the kings of England. He had slept little during the evening, and from eleven to three was in a restless slumber, opening his eyes occasionally when the cough caused great pain. At three o'clock his majesty beckoned to the page in waiting to alter his position, and the couch, constructed for the purpose, was gently raised, and the sufferer lifted to his chair. At that moment, however, a blood-vessel burst, and his attendants hastened to apply the usual stimulants, and to call in the physicians. The royal patient himself perceived that his dissolution was at hand, and exclaimed, "O God, I am dying!" then in a few seconds he added, in a whisper scarcely audible, "This is death!" and when the physicians entered the apartment George IV. had ceased to breathe.

The decease of the monarch had become so much an object of daily expectation, and for years he had lived so much retired from his people, that his death excited less sensation than commonly follows that of English monarchs. Moreover, George IV. was not one of the most popular monarchs in English history.

As soon as the decease of his majesty was known, his next brother, William Henry, Duke of Clarence, was proclaimed by the title of William IV. The new monarch in a short time rendered himself very popular by the plainness of his habits and manners, and by the condescension, or rather the familiarity of his intercourse with his people—qualities which rendered him more popular by a comparison with the secluded life of his predecessors. No immediate change took place in the government, for his majesty, after the usual oaths for the security of the church of Scotland, having signed the instruments requisite at the commencement of a new reign, re-appointed the judges and other great officers of the state to the places which had become vacant, and signified to the members of government that he desired to retain their services.

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CONTINUATION

OF

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

BY E. H. NOLAN

Volume IIIb GEORGE IV.

Contents

List of Illustrations

CHAPTER XXXII.

ACCESSION OF GEORGE IV.

DECLARATION OF THE KING, ETC.

DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.

CATO-STREET CONSPIRACY.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

BILLS FOR AMENDING THE CRIMINAL CODE.

EDUCATION BILL.

MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE ON THE CORN-LAWS.

MOTION FOR A COMMITTEE RESPECTING FREE TRADE.

THE CIVIL LIST, ETC.

MESSAGE RESPECTING THE QUEEN

TRIAL OF THE QUEEN.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

DEBATE ON THE HOLY ALLIANCE

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

MOTIONS FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM, ETC.

REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL COMMITTEE.

THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

THE SUPPLIES, ETC.

CORONATION OF GEORGE IV.

DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

CHANGES IN THE CABINET.

MOTION TO RESTORE ROMAN CATHOLIC PEERS TO THEIR SEATS IN PARLIAMENT.

MOTION ON AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS, ETC.

ACTS FOR THE REDUCTION OF EXPENDITURE.

DEBATES ON THE CURRENCY.

REDUCTION OF IMPOSTS, ETC.

MOTION FOR PARLIAMENTARY REFORM

CAUSE OF THE GREEKS—PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

CHANGE IN THE CABINET.

CHAPTER XXXIV

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

AFFAIRS OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE.

THE SUPPLIES.

THE CATHOLIC QUESTION.

AFFAIRS IN IRELAND.

MOTIONS TO REFORM THE CRIMINAL LAW.

MOTION TO REFORM THE SCOTCH REPRESENTATION.

NEW LONDON BRIDGE BILL.

MOTION RESPECTING THE DUTY ON THE LEEWARD ISLANDS.

EXPENSES OF THE CORONATION.

MUNIFICENCE OF GEORGE IV.

IRISH TITHE COMMUTATION BILL, ETC.—PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

ATTACK ON MINISTERS WITH REFERENCE TO SPAIN, ETC.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

THE TRADE QUESTION

ALIEN BILL, ETC.

DISCUSSIONS ON THE REVOLT IN DEMARARA, ETC.

STATE OF THE BRITISH COLONIES.

EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.

CHAPTER XXXV.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF UNLAWFUL ASSOCIATIONS IN IRELAND.

CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL.

COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF IRELAND.

MR. HUME'S MOTION AGAINST THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT, ETC.

STATE OF THE IRISH CHARTER SCHOOLS.

DEBATES ON ALLEGED ABUSES IN CHANCERY.

REGULATION OF THE SALARIES OF THE JUDGES.

REJECTION OF THE UNITARIAN MARRIAGE ACT, ETC.

ACT AGAINST COMBINATIONS AMONG WORKMEN.

FREE-TRADE SYSTEM.

SURRENDER, OF THE CHARTER OF THE LEVANT COMPANY.

REPORT OF TREATIES.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.

PROPOSALS FOR THE ABOLITION OF CERTAIN TAXES, ETC.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.

GREAT COMMERCIAL PANIC.

Volume IIIb

GEORGE IV.