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 Lansdowne, 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.