bigotry, but from a reliance upon that unstatesmanlike caution
which could not look beyond a dark Present into a brighter
Future. Happily, he had to deal with a sovereign of different
character than he who compelled Pitt in the fear that he might
drive the king into insanity to lay aside the implied pledges of the
Union, and thus to make the Legislature equivocate for thirty years
with the just expectations of disappointed millions. A few childish
lamentations, and there would be an end of the opposition of George
the Fourth to the resolve of his Ministry. He would go to Han-
over he would return no more to England let them get a Cath-
olic king in Clarence were his ejaculations at the interview of the
9th of April. On the I4th lord Eldon wrote to his daughter,
" The fatal Bill received the royal assent yesterday afternoon.
After all I had heard in my visits not a day's delay." f

About a month after the passing of the Bill Mr. O'Connell was
introduced to the House of Commons for the purpose of taking
his seat for Clare. A petition against his return had been referred
to a Com-r.ittee, who declared that he was duly returned. Mr.

* " Memoirs by Sir Robert Peel," vol. i. p. 365- t Twiss, vol. iii. p. 87.

VOL. VIII. 3



34 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

O'Connel* had been elected before the passing of the new Act,
and the Clerk of the House accordingly tendered to him the oath
of supremacy which was required to be taken under the old law.
This oath Mr. O'Connell refused to take, claiming to take the oath
set forth in the Relief Act. He was the next day heard at the bar.
His courtesy, his moderation, his legal knowledge, surprised the
House, and called forth the approving voices of the great law offi-
cers who had opposed his claim at once to take his seat. Upon
a division a new writ was ordered for Clare. A large subscription
was entered into for securing Mr. O'Connell 's second return,
which took place on the 3oth of July. His violence at that election
was a painful and disgusting contrast to his assumed gentleness at
the bar of the House of Commons. His unmeasured words almost
induced a general apprehension that the great measure of Catholic
Emancipation had been too readily yielded to that sense of an
overwhelming necessity which had converted opposing statesmen
into its responsible promoters. There was a higher principle than
the expediency which changed the policy of Mr. Peel a principle
thus proclaimed out of the walls of Parliament, to assert the Chris-
tian obligation of passing this law : " It is the direct duty of every
Englishman to support the claims of the Roman Catholics of Ire-
land, even at the hazard of injuring the Protestant Establishment ;
because those claims cannot be rejected without great injustice ;
and it is a want of faith in God and an unholy zeal to think that he
can be served by injustice, or to guard against contingent evil by
committing certain sin." * This was a great truth, maintained in
words not to be forgotten, by a bold thinker who did not fear evil
tongues one whose tolerant zeal for the Church establishment,
which he ardently desired to uphold, could not shut his eyes to the
exclusive pretensions of those who would have built its security
upon a rotten foundation. It was a truth whose constant recogni-
tion would support every conscientious statesman through the
perils with which Ireland would yet be surrounded ; would neu-
tralize the interested agitation for the Repeal of the Union which
the chief Agitator would for years carry forward to the verge of
rebellion ; would produce the general conviction that the " great
injustice " being effectually removed, a fair field would be left for
the removal or amelioration of social evils ; would convert even
the terrible calamity of a famine into a final blessing ; would " as-
sert eternal Providence " in manifesting that a righteous act
would at last have its reward, in rendering the once wronged Ire-

* Dr. Arnold, " Christian Duty of considering the Roman Catholic Claims." Mis-
cellaneous Works, p. 6.



MOTIONS FOR REFORM. 35

land no more a terror to England, but the sharer of her liberty and
her prosperity a true sister, no longer to be alienated by just
complaints, much less by demagogic violence and priestly strata-
gem.

The Parliament was prorogued on the 24th of June. The land-
owners when they returned to their country mansions did not find
happy faces amidst either tenants or labourers. The summer and
autumn were wet and cold; the harvest was protracted; the crops
were ill got in, and were hurried to market. They were found to
be of inferior quality, and prices suffered temporarily a great de-
pression. Then came the severest winter since 1813-14. Parlia-
ment met on the 4th of February, 1830. The King's Speech la-
mented that notwithstanding the indication of active commerce
afforded by increased exports, distress should prevail amongst the
agricultural and manufacturing classes. One effectual mode of
mitigating the pressure upon industrial capital was announced in
the intention to propose a considerable reduction in the amount of
public expenditure. The promise was realized. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer proposed, on the I5th of March, the total remis-
sion of the excise duties on beer, cider, and leather. Increased
duties en spirits were to supply a portion of the deficiency. The
propositions of the government were finally agreed to. Motions
for Reform of Parliament were brought forward, with the usual
fate of every previous attempt to carry a sweeping or a partial
measure. Again was it resolved that the seat which was vacant
through the corruption of East Retford should not be transferred
to Birmingham. Mr. O'Connell proposed to bring in a Bill to es-
tablish universal suffrage, triennial parliaments, and vote by ballot.
Lord John Russell had a counter-proposition for additional repre-
sentatives for populous counties and large unrepresented towns.
The solution of this difficult problem seemed as far off as ever. It
was helped forward by the imprudent conduct of a great peer who
openly proclaimed what too many of the aristocracy felt in their
hearts. A petition was presented to the House of Commons com-
plaining of the interference of the duke of Newcastle in the elec-
tions for the borough of Newark, and praying that his power of
ejecting tenants from the property which he held as lessee of
Crown lands, should be prevented in future by the non-renewal of
his lease. The government declared that it was not their intention
to renew this lease : it was unnecessary, therefore, to grant a com-
mittee to inquire into this matter. The debate, however, disclosed
a correspondence which roused a feeling of indignation throughout
the land. A public meeting had been held at Newark to condemn



36 HISTORY OF ENGLAND

the proceedings of the nobleman who appeared to have held in
small respect the well-known resolution of the House of Commons
that it is a violation of the privileges of Parliament for Peers of
the Realm to interfere in elections. The duke of Newcastle was
invited to attend that meeting. He declined to attend, and asked
the bold question, " May I not do what I will with mine own ? "
It was the argument of Shylock, when he demanded the pound of
flesh, " 'Tis mine, and I will have it." These words went forth to
teach Englishmen that property had its duties as well as its rights,
preparing the way for that quickly-coming change when the demo-
cratic element would assert its claim to be more respected when
the franchise would cease to be considered as a chattel which
the great could call their own. One measure ol great importance
was proposed this session by Mr. Brougham, as <t specific measure
connected with his extensive views of Law Reform which he had
developed in 1828. On the 2Qth of April, 1830, he moved for
leave to bring in a Bill to establish Local Jurisdiction in certain
districts in England. He showed that to recover small sums in
the superior courts was a process involving delay and expense
which prevented a creditor obtaining the satisfaction of his just
demands. It was his hope that he might be eventually able to es-
tablish the system of local jurisdiction, from which he expected
benefits unspeakably valuable to the country. That hope was long
deferred. The County Courts, which were founded upon the
recommendation of the Common Law Commissioners, arising out
of Mr. Brougham's views in 1830, and upon their further enforce-
ment when he became Lord Chancellor, were not established till
queen Victoria had been eight years upon the throne.

On the 24th of May, a message was sent to both Houses of Par-
liament by the king, announcing his illness and stating the
inconvenience of signing public instruments with his own hand.
A Bill was introduced for the appointment of commissioners to
affix the king's sign-manual by a stamp, in the king's presence, and
by his immediate order given by word of mouth. The Bill re-
ceived the Royal assent on the 2pth of May. On the 26th of
June, at three o'clock in the morning, king George the Fourth ex-
pired at Windsor Castle. It is difficult to look back upon the
career of this prince, whose sovereignty either as Regent or King
formed one of the most important eras in the annals of our coun-
try, without feeling how much his life had been one of great
opportunities wasted and of natural powers perverted ; how the
circumstances by which he had been surrounded from his youth
were almost wholly injurious to his character and his happiness.



DEATH OF GEORGE IV. 37

The present generation, in some degree by the force of contrast
have come to look very severely upon the faults of this erring
brother. They were painfully visited upon him by the absence of
all domestic happiness, by the feeling that he was not beloved or
respected by the people he was appointed to rule over. The
duke of Wellington has given a character of the monarch who held
in dread the great captain's strong sense and inflexible resolution :
" He was indeed," said the duke, "the most extraordinary com-
pound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good feeling in
short, a medley of the most opposite qualities, with a great prepon-
derance of good that I ever saw in any character in my life." *

* Raikes's " Diary," vol. i. p. 92.



38 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.



CHAPTER II.

Oath of allegiance taken by Peers and Commoners. Business of Parliament commenced.
Unmeasured language in the House of Commons. Motion for a Regency in the
event of the king's demise. France. Retrospect of government in reign of Charles
X. Prince Polignac appointed President of the Council. Sudden prorogation of the
Chambers. Algiers. The Royal Ordinances promulgated. The three days of July.
Duke of Orleans Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom. Abdication of Charles X.
Duke of Orleans King. Recognition by England of the new government of France.
Revolution of Belgium. The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
Early opposition to the Railway system. The Locomotive Engine. George Stephen-
son. His son Robert. Anticipations of the triumphs of Railways. Death of Mr.
Huskisson. Opening ot Parliament. Declaration of the duke of Wellington The
king's visit to the City postponed. Defeat of Ministers on the Civil List They re-
sign. Mr. Brougham's parliamentary position. Administration of earl Grey com-
pleted. List of the Ministry.

ON Friday, the 25th of June, both Houses of Parliament had
adjourned to the following Monday. The death of George the
Fourth having taken place at three o'clock on the morning of the
26th, summonses were issued for the immediate attendance of the
Peers for the purpose of taking the oath of allegiance to King Wil-
liam the Fourth as administered by the Lord Chancellor. Ac-
cording to ancient practice the oath to the Commons was to be ad-
ministered by the Lord Steward. At an early hour, therefore,
many members of the Lower House attended in the Long Gallery
for the purpose of taking this oath. The Lord Steward, the Mar-
quis of Conyngham, did not arrive till late. When the House did
meet, Mr. Brougham made an indignant protest against the treat-
ment which the Commons of England had experienced ; for many
members had that morning, like himself, been kept for hours
dancing attendance in the Long Gallery, and waiting the pleasure
of the Lord Steward. On the following Monday Mr. Brougham
explained that he should not have indulged in the remarks which
he had made on the Saturday had he been aware that the Lord
Steward, being also governor of Windsor Castle, could not leave
till he had handed over the body of the king to the Lord Chamber-
lain. The incident is scarcely worth notice, except as affording a
very early indication of the policy of Mr. Brougham "that he at
least had no intention of any longer forming a portion of what was
termed his Majesty's opposition, but that he was about to resume



UNMEASURED LANGUAGE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 39

in earnest the character of an opponent."* The voice of public
scandal, whose echo never died away, asserted that the Marquis
of Conyngham and his family had very important private interests
to take care of at Windsor Castle, in the few hours that elapsed
between the death of the king and their departure from the palace
of which they had long been inmates.

On the ZQth of June the business of parliament commenced. A
message from the king recommended " such temporary provision
as may be requisite for the public service in the interval that
may elapse between the close of the present session and the meet-
ing of a new parliament." During the remaining three weeks of
the session there was much sharp discussion in both Houses. On
the 3oth of June, in the House of Lords, earl Grey, upon the ques-
tion of an Address to his Majesty, moved an amendment to ad-
journ, in order to give time for the consideration of the Civil List,
and the expediency of providing a Regency. The original motion
was carried by a large majority. In the House of Commons, lord
Althorp moved a similar amendment which was also lost. On that
night, after the proposed amendment had been negatived, a new
debate arose upon the question being put on the original Address.
Several years had passed since the House of Commons had heard
such unmeasured language as now proceeded from the orator who
was the real leader of the Opposition. It is difficult to understand
how this fierceness should have been provoked by any act or mani-
fest temper of the government by anything beyond the popular
suspicion that the duke of Wellington was an enemy to the liber-
ties of his country. A threat was supposed to have been held out
in the other House by the duke which Mr. Brougham thus inter-
preted for him " if you leave government in the minority, I will
resign, and where then will you get a Field-Marshal to superintend
your finances and your law-courts ? " Mr. Brougham then warned
the government that in the event of a new election they might look
back even to the parliament with some of the pleasures of memory.
Their case might be the same as that of prince Polignac, who must
needs send the representatives of France to their constituents, and
in choosing a new Assembly that great nation was up, not in
arms, but in the panoply of reason. "We can perceive, sir, in this
country as in that, that the day of force is over, and that the Minis-
ter who hopes to rule by an appeal to Royal favour or military
power may be overwhelmed, though I in nowise accuse him of
such an attempt. Him I accuse not. It is you I accuse his flat-
terers his mean, fawning parasites." Sir Robert Peel rose : " I

* Roebuck, " History of the Whig Ministry," vol. i. p. 251.



40 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

ask the hon. and learned gentleman, as I am one of those on this
side of the House to which he is referring, whether he means to ac-
cuse me of such conduct? .... I ask him whether he presumes to
call me the mean and fawning parasite of anybody?" The histo-
rian of the Whig Ministry says, " Checked thus suddenly in mid-
career, Mr. Brougham seemed at once to perceive that the phrase he
had used, and the charge he had brought, were not to be justified."
He disclaimed every intention of applying the words to sir Robert
Peel himself. Sir Robert Peel required something more. Mr.
Brougham had " no right to accuse men as honest, upright, and in-
dependent as himself, of being parasites. He would make the
apology and retraction for the hon. and learned gentleman " that
" these words were uttered in the warmth of debate, and without
reference to any individual application."* Mr. Brougham at once
adopted the apology thus prescribed to him.

On the 6th of July Mr. R. Grant moved an Address to his
Majesty, touching the expediency of making provision against the
dangers to which the country might be exposed by a demise of the
crown. The motion was rejected by a majority of a hundred and
fifty-four. It was on this occasion that Mr. Macaulay, who had
very recently been returned to Parliament for the borough of
Calne, first exhibited his power of discussing a constitutional ques-
tion upon broader principles than those of a mere debater. The
Solicitor-General had talked about the delicacy due to the new mon-
arch ; that in previous cases of interference there had been a sus-
pension of the executive functions. " I should wish," said Mr.
Macaulay, " to ask the honourable and learned gentleman what he
conceives to be the end and object of Parliament ? The history of
our hereditary form of government does not present us with any
certain security for the wisdom or virtue of the chief magistrate.
The destinies of the community may be entrusted to the feeble
hands of infancy ; and this and other consequences have afforded
ample themes to the satirist and the declaimer. Look, at this mo-
ment, at the enormous weight and extent of power confided to the

hereditary monarch, whether an infant or an adult Yet this

enormous empire, with all its complicated interests, may be placed
under the control of a thoughtless boy or girl. For a child, unable
to walk or to express the simplest wish in its mother tongue, the
claims of veteran Generals and of accomplished Statesmen are
passed by. Senates pay it homage, and by the years of its rule
laws are numbered and public Acts are dated. To many this sys-
tem may appear, if not absurd, unreasonable ; and what is the an-

* Hansard, vol. xxv. col. i86.



GOVERNMENT IN REIGN OF CHARLES X. 41

swer ? Why in this enlightened age do we resist, and would
oppose even with our lives any change of that system ? What is
the advantage that counterbalances its numerous and admitted
evils ? It may be designated in one word certainty Un-
der an hereditary government the Royal authority passes without
interval from one Royal depository to another, and none can dis-
pute in whom the right of supreme magistracy resides. If this
certainty be of more value than wisdom, virtues, or public services
if it be paramount to every other consideration, then, I ask, what
becomes of all the arguments of the honourable and learned mem-
ber ? He tells us to pause in the appointment of a Regency, and
to choose well, rather than to choose soon; but if we follow his
advice, we forego the only advantage of our hereditary form of
government its certainty."* A satisfactory measure by which
this desirable certainty was attained, the personage in whom the
nation could place the utmost confidence being nominated sole
Regent, was passed in the new Parliament. The Duchess of Kent
was appointed to this high office, in the event of the princess Vic-
toria becoming Queen before she had attained the age of eighteen.

The king, on the 23rd of July, prorogued Parliament in person.
The royal speech contained these flattering words : " It is with
the utmost satisfaction that I find myself enabled to congratulate
you upon the general tranquillity of Europe." On the 24th Par-
liament was dissolved by proclamation.

It has been observed by M. Guizot that the ties, apparent or
concealed, that exist between France and England, have never
been broken even by their rivalries. " Whether they know or are
ignorant of it, whether they acknowledge or deny the fact, they
cannot avoid being powerfully acted upon by each other." f Never
was this truth more strikingly exemplified than in the effect pro-
duced upon English opinion with regard to our domestic politics,
by that French revolution of 1830 which, bursting forth within
forty-eight hours of the dissolution of our own Parliament, had a
most decided influence upon the elections that took place during
the month of August, and thus produced a change of administra-
tion which immediately led to our own peaceful revolution the
Reform of Parliament. To comprehend in some degree the causes
of the great event which hurled the elder branch of the Bourbons
from that throne upon which they appeared to be firmly seated
after the battle of Waterloo,.we must advert very briefly to the
course of the government of France after the death of Louis
XVIII., on the i6th of September, 1824.

* Hansard, vol. xxv. col. 326.

1 Guizot, " Memoirs to illustrate the History of My Time," vol. i. p. 306.



42 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

On the 1 5th of August, a month only before the decease of
Louis, the censorship of journals was re-established by a royal or-
dinance. The state of the king's health appeared to the minister,
M. de Villele, to require that the government should have in its
hands this power of controlling the press. The good sense of
Louis XVIII., and his desire to govern as far as possible in an
enlightened and liberal spirit, preserved France during his reign
from any popular convulsion. Under the Charter the struggles of
parties were of a constitutional character. There were great ora-
tors in the Chamber of Deputies who were opposed to the govern-
ment ; there were bitter satirists in prose and verse, such as Cou-
rier and Beranger, who attacked the ultra-royalist party and the
priestly party with unsparing ridicule ; nevertheless, the nation had
not arrived at the belief that another vital change in its institutions
was necessary, and was content to confide in the power of the
Charter gradually to repair its own deficiencies. Charles X. came
to the throne. The French saw the change with something like
dread, for he was considered the representative of ultra-royalist
opinions. He at once manifested a solicitude that the people
should accept him as a constitutional king. His first act was to
abolish the censorship of the journals. He said to the peers and
deputies that his great desire was to consolidate the Charter for
the happiness of his people. He promised to each religious body
protection for its worship. The ceremony of consecrating the king
at Rheims was little in accordance with the spirit of the age, or the
general character of the French. The people laughed and sneered
when the " Moniteur" said:" There is no doubt that the holy
oil which will flow on the forehead of Charles X. in the solemnity
of his consecration, is the same as that which, since the time of
Clovis, has consecrated the French kings." Napoleon putting the
crown upon his own head, was a fitter type of popular sovereignty
in France than Charles X. anointed in seven parts of his body by
the Archbishop of Rheims. Nevertheless, the king had solemnly
promised to maintain the Charter, and the obsolete pageantries of
his coronation were not imputed to him as a fault. The people
had soon to learn how little dependence could be placed upon the
professions, and even upon the liberal actions, of their new king.
" Without false calculation or premeditated deceit, Charles X. wa-
vered from contradiction to contradiction, from inconsistency to
inconsistency, until the day when, given up to his own will and be-
lief, he committed the error which cost him his throne." * He was
at heart "a true emigrant and a submissive bigot." In 1826, a

* Guizot, vol. i. p. 266.



PRINCE POLIGNAC APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF COUNCIL. 43

shrewd Englishman, writing from Paris, saw clearly how the big-
otry would terminate : " The French government are behaving
very foolishly, flinging themselves into the arms of the Jesuits ;
making processions through the streets of twelve hundred priests,
with the king and royal family at their head ; disgusting the peo-
ple, and laying the foundation of another revolution, which seems
to me (if this man lives) to be inevitable." *

M. de Villele's career, as the chief minister of Louis XVIII.
and Charles X., had been of a longer duration than might have