An alliance of Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal, effected by Palmerston as a counterpoise to the Holy Alliance of Russia, Prussia and Austria.
Quakers.
The name commonly given to the Society of Friends, a sect founded in 1648 by George Fox, a Leicestershire shoemaker. The sect was organized into a Society in 1866.
Quarantaine le Roy.
An ordinance issued in the early part of the reign of Louis IX, designed to put a stop to private warfare. It provided that in the event of a crime being committed, a period of forty days should elapse before vengeance was exacted, and that at any time during that period the relatives of the murdered man might call upon the Bailli to execute the justice of the King.
Quarterage.
A special tax levied in the reign of Queen Anne upon all Catholics who established a business in Ireland.
Quebec Act.
An Act passed in 1775 by Lord North’s Government, authorizing the Crown to throw open posts of honour to the Catholics in Canada, and restoring the French system of law in the French Canadian provinces. It also confirmed the Roman Catholic Clergy in their benefices.