debarred from the national service by the dislike of his father, and encouraged in vice and extravagance by the members of his private circle, he set an example of profligacy of living and looseness of principle which offended the moral feelings of his people. A Henry VIII., happily without his fondness for blood, a Charles II., unfortunately without his wit, he recalled the two worst periods of our history by his disregard of the most sacred ties, and his addiction to sensual gratifications. Yet some allowance must be made for a man who had formed his tastes and morals according to the ideas of the last century. It is unfortunate for him that the change was so rapid from the brutalized excesses of the former period to the more decorous principles of the latter years of his life, that he was a contemporary of both those states of opinions. his youth he was not thought the worse of for exhibitions of drunkenness and other vices, which, when he reached his riper manhood, were considered marks of depravity, and were visited with disgrace; and he presented the most melancholy spectacle the human eye can see-an old man continuing a career of impropriety to the last, and unconscious, all the time, of the disgust excited by his conduct. He died on the 25th of June, 1830, having comprised within the twenty years of his regency and reign greater events in war and legislation than any similar period had produced. In 1824. Huskisson's free-trade measures. 1825. A ruinous commercial panic. 1827. Death of Canning, the Prime Minister, who is succeeded by Lord Goderich. Death of the Duke of York. Battle of Navarino, and emancipation of Greece. 1828. The Test and Corporation Acts 1829. Catholic Relief Bill passed. CONTEMPORARY SOVEREIGNS. FRANCE.-Louis-Philippe (Bourbon-Orleans). PRUSSIA. Frederick-William III. SPAIN. Ferdinand VII.; Maria Isabella II. POPES.-Pius VIII.; Gregory XVI. * The leading administrations of this reign are noticed under the Landmarks of Chronology," p. 787. § 1. Accession of William IV. His moral character and social virtues. -§ 2. The French revolution. Charles driven from the kingdom. 3. Agitation for Parliamentary reform. Lord Grey appointed Prime Minister, and Lord Brougham the Lord Chancellor, Lord Althorp made Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord John Russell, Mr. Stanley, and Lord Palmerston added to the administration.§ 4. Agitation for Parliamentary Reform. The measure is finally passed. Its important results. Leading features of the Reform Act. § 5. West Indian Slave Emancipation Bill passed.-§ 6. State of Political feeling. Declining power of the Whig Administration. Increasing popularity of Sir R. Peel.-§ 7. Retirement of Lord Grey, and Lord Melbourne's appointment to the head of the Ministry. Reforms in the Irish Church. O'Connell and Irish agitation.— § 8. The New Poor Law passed. Its advantages. § 9. The Melbourne Cabinet dissolved. - § 10. The great political and social changes in our domestic and foreign relations.-§ 11. Sir R. Peel returns from Italy, and accepts the appointment of Prime Minister. The Duke of Wellington discharges all the offices of the Cabinet during Sir Robert's absence. Energy and talents of the new minister. His various useful measures. New Marriage Act. Sir Robert defeated on the Irish Appropriation Clause. His resignation.§ 12. Lord Melbourne's second Administration. Agitated state of Ireland. Rebellion in Canada.—§ 13. Death of the king. § 1. WILLIAM THE FOURTH formed a favourable contrast with his brother in the openness of his manners and the attachment he bore to his wife, Queen Adelaide. The public rejoiced to see the severe morals of the Court of George III. restored under the guidance of this gentle and religious princess, and in all the changes that occurred in politics and feeling, one unvarying sentiment of reverence for her virtues and trust in her goodness pervaded the public mind. With regard to her husband, there was not the same unchangeableness of confidence or affection. His freedom from stiffness and restraint, the undignified simplicity of his appearance, and the declarations he made of adhesion to the popular cause endeared him to the multitude at first. They were delighted to see the sailor king comport himself with the hail-fellowwell-met joviality of a British tar; and even the opponents of reform were pleased to see the popularity of the sovereign, as the dislike entertained for his predecessor had almost endangered the throne. In a short time the novelty of a crowned king walking about with an umbrella under his arm and using the language of the cockpit wore off. Great things were going on at home and abroad, and it was feared the new ruler would be found unequal to the crisis. § 2. France and England, though so different in manners and government, always act upon each other in the turning points of their fortunes with nearly irresistible power. In a few weeks after the accession of King William, on the 29th of July, a revolution, less bloody, but as complete as that of 1793, drove Charles X. from Paris, and awakened with tenfold force the hopes and apprehensions of the contending parties in this country. The obstinacy of the Bourbon, in resisting the desire of his people for greater freedom, encouraged the wiser politicians in England to meet the wishes of our countrymen with timely reforms. But the Revolution itself the overthrow of a government and the flight of a legitimate sovereign-alarmed the timid with the fear of a A.D 1831-1832.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 779 similar catastrophe here; and the Duke of Wellington, in the first surprise at the success of the discontented over his friend the Prime Minister of France, had the misfortune to declare that no reform in Parliament was required. § 3. The gauntlet thus thrown down was taken up by the Liberals throughout the kingdom, and popular indignation could only be controlled by the appointment of a new Ministry, presided over by Lord Grey, and supported by the eloquence of Brougham, who was made Lord Chancellor, and the manly honesty of Lord Althorp, who was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. Other men of great influence were in the administration,-Mr. Stanley (now Earl Derby), Lord Palmerston, and Lord John Russell. Thus fully manned and ably steered, the vessel of Reform went on. The energy and vigour of the crew were guarantees that the voyage would be rapid, and the skill of the steersman was a guarantee that it would be safe. § 4. After a year and a-half of tempestuous altercations, with the king looking helplessly on, as if unable to comprehend what the disturbance was about, or interfering in it in a way which only showed how little weight he possessed in the decision of the question, the great Bill was carried, and the political machinery of the country was arranged to the general satisfaction. The Duke of Wellington, the leader of the obstructives, had declined to give his consent, but agreed to absent himself and his followers from the House of Lords while the crowning vote was taken. When we consider the few evils which resulted from the measure, we may look with surprise on the anticipations of its enemies. Never were we so nearly on the verge of civil war. Troops were kept under arms during the nine days' exclusion from office of the Whigs, and the substitution of a new Cabinet under the Duke, from the 9th to the 18th of May, 1831; Parliament petitioned for a creation of peers to carry the Bill in opposition to the wishes of the existing majority in the Lords; meetings were held in the principal towns; preparations were made for a march of two hundred thousand artisans and other reformers from Birmingham to London, and everything portended the darkest termination to the struggle, when suddenly the clouds cleared up, the king gave his royal assent, and power was conveyed to the middle class in a degree proportioned to their increase in wealth and enlightenment. The object of the Reform Bill was the disfranchisement of fifty-six boroughs which had returned one hundred and eleven members, and the reduction of thirty-one which had hitherto elected two members to a single return. The number of seats to be redistributed was one hundred and forty-three; and of these sixty-five were given to the counties, and the remainder to new or enlarged constituencies in the boroughs and metropolitan districts. The aggregate number of members remained the same (658), and Scotland and Ireland had a slight increase and a new distribution of their representatives. The franchise in counties was of different kinds, a 10l. copyhold; a leasehold of the same amount, if for sixty years; or of 501. if for twenty years; the possession of a freehold of the annual value of 40s.,—the old qualification, which dated from a time when 40s. were of the value of 301.; or a yearly holding of the value of 501. by tenants at will. When Lord Grey was forced to yield to this proviso introduced by the Tories, he declared that it made the dreaded Reform Bill the most aristocratic measure which had ever passed the Commons. The borough franchise was uniform, being an occupation of a dwelling-house of the value of 107., with the payment of rates and taxes. § 5. The same strength of public opinion, which had enabled the Ministry to carry through the Reform Bill in spite of the resistance of a great portion of the upper classes, was sufficient to silence opposition to the next great measure they introduced-the emancipation of the slaves in all the English colonies. For many years this question had been |